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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>President Obama’s state of the union speech featured a commitment to reduce carbon emissions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>He continued to support natural gas and oil development.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span></font></font><a href="http://www.natureworldnews.com/articles/5813/20140129/obama-renews-call-curb-carbon-emissions-state-union-address.htm"><font color="#0000ff" size="3" face="Calibri">http://www.natureworldnews.com/articles/5813/20140129/obama-renews-call-curb-carbon-emissions-state-union-address.htm</font></a><font size="3"><font face="Calibri"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>The president’s support for natural gas led the Guardian’s Suzanne Goldenberg to lower his grade to a C on climate and energy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span></font></font><a href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/jan/28/state-of-the-union-scorecard-grade-obama"><font color="#0000ff" size="3" face="Calibri">http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/jan/28/state-of-the-union-scorecard-grade-obama</font></a><font size="3"><font face="Calibri"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>My sense of the matter is that the situation requires pass/fail.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>Either we achieve a future we might wish to inhabit or we do not.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>We have passed the time for melioration.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>
Natural gas and oil are just bridges off the cliff.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>Energy independence which involves using fossil fuels is just another empty phrase.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>Our president, one of our best though he is, and with all his successes, has earned an F.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>The Sierra Club, the Natural Resources Defense Council, and 16 other environmental groups have expressed their alarm.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span></font></font><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/whitehouse/inside-washington-greens-hit-obama-on-energy-plan/2014/01/30/e8136568-89cc-11e3-a760-a86415d0944d_story.html"><font color="#0000ff" size="3" face="Calibri">http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/whitehouse/inside-washington-greens-hit-obama-on-energy-plan/2014/01/30/e8136568-89cc-11e3-a760-a86415d0944d_story.html</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>Jim Yong Kim, President of the World Bank, has called for a price on carbon, among other measures.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>“This is the year to take action on climate change.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>There are no excuses.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span></font></font><a href="http://ens-newswire.com/2014/01/27/world-bank-head-calls-for-carbon-pricing-to-rescue-climate/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ens-newswire%2FJZdj+%28ENS%29"><font color="#0000ff" size="3" face="Calibri">http://ens-newswire.com/2014/01/27/world-bank-head-calls-for-carbon-pricing-to-rescue-climate/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ens-newswire%2FJZdj+%28ENS%29</font></a><font size="3"><font face="Calibri"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>The president’s comments came at the World Economic Forum in Davos, where little was accomplished to promote sustainability, due to the strength of the fossil fuel corporations.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>Perhaps the president is saying that someone (surely the UN) is going to have to make us do what we know we must.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span></font></font><a href="http://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/blog/davos-2014-reflections-leaders-failed"><font color="#0000ff" size="3" face="Calibri">http://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/blog/davos-2014-reflections-leaders-failed</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>The mayors of ten major US cities agreed to cut greenhouse gas emissions from their buildings.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>Los Angeles already requires reflective roofs on new and rebuilt structures, which cut down on energy use, which reduces emissions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span></font></font><a href="http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/10-US-Cities-Plan-Coordinated-Attack-on-Building-Energy-Waste"><font color="#0000ff" size="3" face="Calibri">http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/10-US-Cities-Plan-Coordinated-Attack-on-Building-Energy-Waste</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>Former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, whose foundation helped organize the initiative, is likely to be the UN’s special envoy for cities and climate change.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>New York has reduced carbon emissions 19% since 2005 and has a target of 30% by 2030.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span></font></font><a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/01/31/us-climate-un-bloomberg-idUSBREA0U02Q20140131"><font color="#0000ff" size="3" face="Calibri">http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/01/31/us-climate-un-bloomberg-idUSBREA0U02Q20140131</font></a><font size="3"><font face="Calibri"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
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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>The U of S FL’s Don Chambers, a lead author for the IPCC ‘s current AR-5, recorded in December a 54 minute lecture on measuring sea level rise and the background of current IPCC projections.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>Thanks to Margo Moehring for the link.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>
</font></font><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uibjA2VCf6A&feature=youtu.be"><font color="#0000ff" size="3" face="Calibri">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uibjA2VCf6A&feature=youtu.be</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>A study in Nature finds that climate moves people to migrate not so much through disasters as through chronic heat stress.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span></font></font><a href="http://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/climate-change-already-causing-mass-human-migration-180949530/"><font color="#0000ff" size="3" face="Calibri">http://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/climate-change-already-causing-mass-human-migration-180949530/</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>The solar industry in the US now employs about 143,000 people, more than in coal and natural gas combined.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span></font></font><a href="http://www.greenbiz.com/blog/2014/01/31/us-solar-industry-employs-more-coal-gas-industries-combined?mkt_tok=3RkMMJWWfF9wsRolvaXAZKXonjHpfsX56%2BskXK%2B1lMI%2F0ER3fOvrPUfGjI4CSMJqI%2BSLDwEYGJlv6SgFSLHEMa5qw7gMXRQ%3D"><font color="#0000ff" size="3" face="Calibri">http://www.greenbiz.com/blog/2014/01/31/us-solar-industry-employs-more-coal-gas-industries-combined?mkt_tok=3RkMMJWWfF9wsRolvaXAZKXonjHpfsX56%2BskXK%2B1lMI%2F0ER3fOvrPUfGjI4CSMJqI%2BSLDwEYGJlv6SgFSLHEMa5qw7gMXRQ%3D</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>Highlights of an article on methane in the current issue of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">
Science</i>:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>For obscure reasons atmospheric methane increase slowed from 1999-2007 but has resumed a pace of about 6 ppb per year since then.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>Humans are responsible for about two-thirds of atmospheric methane.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>Catastrophic releases of methane from hydrates are unlikely in the near future, and releases from melting Arctic permafrost do not seem to be growing alarmingly.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>More monitoring is needed but funds are diminishing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span></font></font><a href="http://www.sciencemag.org/content/343/6170/493.short"><font color="#0000ff" size="3" face="Calibri">http://www.sciencemag.org/content/343/6170/493.short</font></a><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><font size="3" face="Calibri">
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