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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>Two linked studies of coastal areas at risk from sea level rise have appeared in
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">Environmental Research Letters</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>They employ a new high resolution mapping of coastal areas from NOAA.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>The authors estimate the vulnerability of coastal areas to flooding, which is expected to occur with increasing frequency as even modest storm surges are added to sea level rise.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>The approach finds that 87% more people are at risk from a meter of flooding than had been calculated using older census figures and measuring flooding from mean elevation instead of the high tide mark.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>The studies anticipate that 37 million people in the US will be displaced by flooding by 2030.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>The strategy of using high tide profiles rather than sea level for estimating vulnerability should be useful to planners.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>The biggest news is that the study has been widely reported and constitutes a major move toward public awareness of the problem.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span></font></font><a href="http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/mar2012/2012-03-14-01.html"><font color="#0000ff" size="3" face="Calibri">http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/mar2012/2012-03-14-01.html</font></a><font size="3"><font face="Calibri">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Climate Central’s report, The Surging Seas, based on the two articles, with an interactive map of flooding:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span></font></font><a href="http://sealevel.climatecentral.org/"><font color="#0000ff" size="3" face="Calibri">http://sealevel.climatecentral.org/</font></a><font size="3"><font face="Calibri"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>The <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">New York Times</i> story is an odd mixture of serious consideration of the article and mere propaganda.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>On the helpful side, it comments on the implications for property insurance.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span></font></font><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/14/science/earth/study-rising-sea-levels-a-risk-to-coastal-states.html?_r=1"><font color="#0000ff" size="3" face="Calibri">http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/14/science/earth/study-rising-sea-levels-a-risk-to-coastal-states.html?_r=1</font></a><font size="3"><font face="Calibri"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>Bloomberg has much more (and better) on the insurance implications of the study.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span></font></font><a href="http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-03-20/florida-s-inland-residents-may-pay-as-sea-levels-climb"><font color="#0000ff" size="3" face="Calibri">http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-03-20/florida-s-inland-residents-may-pay-as-sea-levels-climb</font></a><font size="3" face="Calibri">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Gauging the impact of sea level rise requires more than flood projections, of course.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>Other factors include infrastructure vulnerability and terrain.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>The Miami-Dade Task Force on Climate Change calculated that two feet of slr would be sufficient to “hopelessly compromise” the water supply of the region.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>Orrin Pilkey in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">The Rising Sea</i> warns that two feet of slr is enough to destabilize the East Coast’s barrier islands, on which North Florida’s beach communities rest.</font></p>
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<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 55.5pt" class="MsoNormal"><font size="3"><font face="Calibri">2.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>Tennessee has passed a bill protecting teachers who wish to attack science in the areas of evolution and climate change.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span></font></font><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/mar/21/tennessee-bill-teachers-evolution-climate-change"><font color="#0000ff" size="3" face="Calibri">http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/mar/21/tennessee-bill-teachers-evolution-climate-change</font></a></p>
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<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 55.5pt" class="MsoNormal"><font size="3"><font face="Calibri">3.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>Stephen Mulkey’s PowerPoint for his recent presentation at U of FL provides a succinct introduction to our climate situation, and to the proper way forward.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>The link is to the Facebook page of his sponsoring organization, the Citizens Climate Lobby; click on their dropbox link for the slides.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>Thanks to Tom Larson for sharing this.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>
</font></font><a href="http://www.facebook.com/CitizensClimateLobbyGainesvilleFL"><font color="#0000ff" size="3" face="Calibri">http://www.facebook.com/CitizensClimateLobbyGainesvilleFL</font></a></p>
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<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 55.5pt" class="MsoNormal"><font size="3"><font face="Calibri">4.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>2010 is now considered the warmest year on record, and the last decade the warmest.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span></font></font><a href="http://news.mongabay.com/2012/0320-hance_2010_warmest.html"><font color="#0000ff" size="3" face="Calibri">http://news.mongabay.com/2012/0320-hance_2010_warmest.html</font></a></p>
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<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 55.5pt" class="MsoNormal"><font size="3"><font face="Calibri">5.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">The Economist</i> foresees a marginal role for nuclear power, due to rising costs and perceived risks.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>Thanks again to Tom Larson for the item. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span></font></font><a href="http://www.economist.com/node/21549098"><font color="#0000ff" size="3" face="Calibri">http://www.economist.com/node/21549098</font></a></p>
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<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 55.5pt" class="MsoNormal"><font size="3"><font face="Calibri">6.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>As prices for rooftop solar drop, more people will buy it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>100 million homes would still represent only 2% of US energy use—but almost 1/3 of the voters.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>Someone who is benefitting from cheap renewable energy will probably support a national transition to renewables.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span></font></font><a href="http://grist.org/solar-power/rooftop-revolution-how-to-get-solar-onto-100-million-u-s-homes/"><font color="#0000ff" size="3" face="Calibri">http://grist.org/solar-power/rooftop-revolution-how-to-get-solar-onto-100-million-u-s-homes/</font></a></p>
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<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 55.5pt" class="MsoNormal"><font size="3"><font face="Calibri">7.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>A study in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">Nature Climate Change</i> finds that most of the new energy added by renewables has not gone to replace fossil fuel energy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>Instead, the new energy tends to increase demand.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>The lesson seems to be to make the fossil fuel energy really expensive and the renewable really cheap.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span></font></font><a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-17476542"><font color="#0000ff" size="3" face="Calibri">http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-17476542</font></a><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><font size="3" face="Calibri">
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