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<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font size="3"><font face="Calibri">1.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>Will human civilizations survive our own greed?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>At the meeting of the American Geophysical Union<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>David Grinspoon imagines survivors establishing a sustainable presence on earth.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span></font></font><a href="http://www.mnn.com/earth-matters/wilderness-resources/stories/can-human-civilization-continue-indefinitely"><font color="#0000ff" size="3" face="Calibri">http://www.mnn.com/earth-matters/wilderness-resources/stories/can-human-civilization-continue-indefinitely</font></a><font size="3"><font face="Calibri">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>On the other hand, London’s Jan Zalasiewicz supposes that the future may belong to giant rats.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span></font></font><a href="http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2013/12/23/131223fa_fact_kolbert"><font color="#0000ff" size="3" face="Calibri">http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2013/12/23/131223fa_fact_kolbert</font></a>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font size="3"><font face="Calibri">2.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>A British study indicates that in the long term the sensitivity of the climate to a doubling of CO2 could be twice as large as the current IPCC estimate.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span></font></font><a href="http://www.climatenewsnetwork.net/2013/12/earth-may-be-doubly-sensitive-to-co2/"><font color="#0000ff" size="3" face="Calibri">http://www.climatenewsnetwork.net/2013/12/earth-may-be-doubly-sensitive-to-co2/</font></a><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font size="3"><font face="Calibri">3.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>Thorium reactors continue to attract attention.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>A pilot project is underway in Norway, where thorium was discovered and named after the Norse god Thor.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span></font></font><a href="http://news.yahoo.com/thorium-dream-clean-nuclear-power-142008502.html"><font color="#0000ff" size="3" face="Calibri">http://news.yahoo.com/thorium-dream-clean-nuclear-power-142008502.html</font></a><font size="3"><font face="Calibri"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>Wikipedia offers much more info, including the many countries now developing thorium technology and a couple, the US and Germany, where projects have been abandoned.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>In 1973 the US shut down thorium reactors because they do not yield nuclear bomb materials.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>The German technology proved too difficult and expensive.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>The US is currently collaborating with China on the design of a molten salt reactor using thorium fuel.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span></font></font><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thorium-based_nuclear_power"><font color="#0000ff" size="3" face="Calibri">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thorium-based_nuclear_power</font></a><font size="3"><font face="Calibri"><span class="MsoHyperlink"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><u><font color="#0000ff">
</font></u></span></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>A discussion of the liquid fluoride thorium reactor indicates both the advantages and the difficulties of thorium reactor design.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>I would add to the drawbacks the danger that we will not take action while we wait for thorium reactors, which appear to be some years in the future.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span></font></font><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liquid_fluoride_thorium_reactor"><font color="#0000ff" size="3" face="Calibri">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liquid_fluoride_thorium_reactor</font></a><font size="3"><font face="Calibri"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>Nuclear power plants using standard technology are in rapid decline.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span></font></font><a href="http://www.theecologist.org/News/news_analysis/2211231/the_nuclear_renaissance_is_stone_cold_dead.html"><font color="#0000ff" size="3" face="Calibri">http://www.theecologist.org/News/news_analysis/2211231/the_nuclear_renaissance_is_stone_cold_dead.html</font></a><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font size="3"><font face="Calibri">4.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>Climate Denial Crocks clarifies with a ten minute video the role of electric transportation in a sustainable energy system.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span></font></font><a href="http://climatecrocks.com/2013/12/23/ev-moonshot-next-gm-ev-could-be-200-mile-range-under-30000/"><font color="#0000ff" size="3" face="Calibri">http://climatecrocks.com/2013/12/23/ev-moonshot-next-gm-ev-could-be-200-mile-range-under-30000/</font></a><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font size="3"><font face="Calibri">5.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>In a newly discovered aquifer in Greenland, liquid water is stored even through the winter between ice particles like the juice in a snow cone.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>The impact on sea level rise is unclear.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>
</font></font><a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-25463647"><font color="#0000ff" size="3" face="Calibri">http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-25463647</font></a><font size="3"><font face="Calibri"><span class="MsoHyperlink"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><u><font color="#0000ff">
</font></u></span></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Further details on the aquifer:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span></font></font><a href="http://www.enn.com/climate/article/46820?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ClimateChangeNews-Enn+%28Climate+Change+News+-+ENN%29"><font color="#0000ff" size="3" face="Calibri">http://www.enn.com/climate/article/46820?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ClimateChangeNews-Enn+%28Climate+Change+News+-+ENN%29</font></a><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font size="3"><font face="Calibri">6.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>Communities may now base on projections of sea level rise FEMA grant applications to mitigate possible coastal property damage.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>The change should be of great use in efforts to cope with climate disruption.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span></font></font><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/12/23/fema-flood-program_n_4495117.html?utm_hp_ref=politics"><font color="#0000ff" size="3" face="Calibri">http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/12/23/fema-flood-program_n_4495117.html?utm_hp_ref=politics</font></a><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font size="3"><font face="Calibri">7.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>Norway could fill reservoirs with excess wind power so that the European grid would be stabilized during slack wind periods by using the high water levels to generate power.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span></font></font><a href="http://www.climatecentral.org/news/giant-battery-can-store-renewable-energy-16852?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+climatecentral%2FdjOO+Climate+Central+-+Full+Feed"><font color="#0000ff" size="3" face="Calibri">http://www.climatecentral.org/news/giant-battery-can-store-renewable-energy-16852?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+climatecentral%2FdjOO+Climate+Central+-+Full+Feed</font></a><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font size="3"><font face="Calibri">8.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>Wen Stephenson provides “A Climate Truth-Tellers Honor Role of 2013.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span></font></font><a href="http://www.thenation.com/blog/177705/climate-truth-tellers-honor-roll-2013"><font color="#0000ff" size="3" face="Calibri">http://www.thenation.com/blog/177705/climate-truth-tellers-honor-roll-2013#</font></a><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><font size="3" face="Calibri">
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