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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>Norway’s Jorgen Randers was one of the MIT World3 modelers whose work provided the base for
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">The</i> <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">
Limits to Growth</i> in 1972.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>In his new book
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">2052: A Global Forecast for the Next Forty Years</i> he finds that we are on track for a global collapse of civilization—in the early stages already, in fact.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>Others who have revisited the model come to a similar conclusion.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>The charts at the end of the review explain why.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>The comments following the review complete the effect as if they were crowd noises on the sound track of a disaster movie.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span></font></font><a href="http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=apocalypse-soon-has-civilization-passed-the-environmental-point-of-no-return"><font color="#0000ff" size="3" face="Calibri">http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=apocalypse-soon-has-civilization-passed-the-environmental-point-of-no-return</font></a></p>
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<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><font size="3"><font face="Calibri">2.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>The Entrepreneur class of the Foundation Academy in Jacksonville Beach has established an aquaponics loop using catfish and carp to fertilize a variety of vegetables and herbs.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span></font></font><a href="http://jacksonville.com/news/metro/2012-05-24/story/private-jacksonville-school-opens-its-own-organic-fish-and-produce-farm"><font color="#0000ff" size="3" face="Calibri">http://jacksonville.com/news/metro/2012-05-24/story/private-jacksonville-school-opens-its-own-organic-fish-and-produce-farm</font></a><font size="3"><font face="Calibri"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>Such skills could be central to the kind of resilient community equipped for the world suggested in item 1.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>I noticed that the Entrepreneurs are minimizing their carbon footprint with solar power.
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>I would like some of their green beans and tomatoes with my fried catfish, please.</font></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">3.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>The move by 20 coastal counties in North Carolina (NC20) to limit the planning for sea level rise to projections of current rates of change has not yet passed the legislature (though an earlier report implied that it had).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>The situation is complicated, with such departments as Emergency Planning concerned that they will be hampered and others anxious that insurance rates will rise even further if meaningful planning is outlawed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>NC20 wishes to plan for 8 inches of sea level rise this century.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span></font></font><a href="http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2012/05/25/3265614/coastal-nc-counties-fighting-sea.html"><font color="#0000ff" size="3" face="Calibri">http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2012/05/25/3265614/coastal-nc-counties-fighting-sea.html</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">4.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>California’s Public Utilities Commission has doubled the amount of rooftop solar power covered by subsidized net metering to 5,200 megawatts.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span></font></font><a href="http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-puc-solar-20120525,0,4107903.story"><font color="#0000ff" size="3" face="Calibri">http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-puc-solar-20120525,0,4107903.story</font></a></p>
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<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><font size="3" face="Calibri">5.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>CUNY’s Energy Institute is sponsoring a startup to produce a nickel-zinc battery for wind and solar systems that is as cheap as lead-acid batteries and lasts as long as lithium-ion batteries, 15 years.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>The new battery should make it possible to store power economically for round-the-clock use even in smaller systems.
</font><a href="http://insideclimatenews.org/news/20120524/renewable-energy-battery-storage-cleantech-utilities-cuny-zinc-solar-wind-farms-dendrites-duracell"><font color="#0000ff" size="3" face="Calibri">http://insideclimatenews.org/news/20120524/renewable-energy-battery-storage-cleantech-utilities-cuny-zinc-solar-wind-farms-dendrites-duracell</font></a></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>China is spending $23 billion on the transition to renewable energy this year.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>It is keeping to its target of reducing greenhouse gas emissions 40-45% by 2020 on a 2003 base.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span></font></font><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/may/25/china-renewable-energy-carbon-emissions"><font color="#0000ff" size="3" face="Calibri">http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/may/25/china-renewable-energy-carbon-emissions</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">7.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>The Bonn climate talks among 180 nations last week ended without major achievements.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span></font></font><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/may/25/bonn-climate-talks-end-disappointment"><font color="#0000ff" size="3" face="Calibri">http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/may/25/bonn-climate-talks-end-disappointment</font></a><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><font size="3" face="Calibri">
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