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<p>1. A metastudy of extinction risks finds that on average 16% of species will disappear at 4C of warming, with regional variations. The rate will rise with the temperature.
<a href="http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/apr/30/one-in-six-of-worlds-species-faces-extinction-due-to-climate-change-study">
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/apr/30/one-in-six-of-worlds-species-faces-extinction-due-to-climate-change-study</a></p>
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<p>2. About 60% of large herbivores are faced with extinction. Hunting and habitat loss are the primary drivers.
<a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2015/05/04/horribly-bleak-study-sees-empty-landscape-as-large-herbivores-vanish-at-startling-rate/?tid=hp_mm">
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2015/05/04/horribly-bleak-study-sees-empty-landscape-as-large-herbivores-vanish-at-startling-rate/?tid=hp_mm</a></p>
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<p>3. Tesla has announced the Powerwall, a home battery storage system which will cost installers $3000-3500 for the 7 and 10 kWh sizes (exclusive of inverters). The company also intends to offer the Powerpack, a modular 100 kWh battery which can be stacked
for utility and microgrid uses. Southern California Edison, Amazon, and Target are piloting these batteries. <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-05-01/tesla-s-musk-unveils-batteries-for-home-businesses-utilities">http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-05-01/tesla-s-musk-unveils-batteries-for-home-businesses-utilities</a>
Bloomberg supplies reasons to suppose that the new batteries will be a success.
<a href="http://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/12-reasons-teslas-new-batteries-are-poised-to-bring-in-billions/ar-BBj19RC?ocid=AARDHP">
http://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/12-reasons-teslas-new-batteries-are-poised-to-bring-in-billions/ar-BBj19RC?ocid=AARDHP</a> Elon Musk does a good job of introducing the batteries in this 18 minute video. The presentation was powered by solar-charged
batteries. <a href="http://climatecrocks.com/2015/05/01/teslas-power-wall-is-the-imac-of-the-renewable-energy-age/">
http://climatecrocks.com/2015/05/01/teslas-power-wall-is-the-imac-of-the-renewable-energy-age/</a></p>
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<p>4. MIT and India’s Jain Irrigation Systems have developed a solar desalination technology for use in rural coastal drought areas.
<a href="http://ecowatch.com/2015/05/01/mit-solar-desalination-drought/?utm_source=EcoWatch+List&utm_campaign=e9f28d74a1-Top_News_5_1_2015&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_49c7d43dc9-e9f28d74a1-85965093">
http://ecowatch.com/2015/05/01/mit-solar-desalination-drought/?utm_source=EcoWatch+List&utm_campaign=e9f28d74a1-Top_News_5_1_2015&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_49c7d43dc9-e9f28d74a1-85965093</a></p>
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<p>5. In the most thorough study of global energy infrastructure to date, the International Energy Agency warns that we must cease developing new fossil fuel energy production or risk catastrophic warming. A growing number of countries are publicly advocating
postponing an emissions agreement to 2020—the UK, Russia, and Japan among them. <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2011/nov/09/fossil-fuel-infrastructure-climate-change">http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2011/nov/09/fossil-fuel-infrastructure-climate-change</a>
The US has been identified as working behind the scenes to prevent hard emissions targets in UN agreements.
<a href="http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2007/may/05/climatechange.climatechangeenvironment">
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2007/may/05/climatechange.climatechangeenvironment</a></p>
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<p>6. Local event: the talk “Unconventional Solutions to Climate Change” by Thomas Bushnell, Chief Scientist, Langley Research Center, has been rescheduled for 11:30-1:30 Friday, May 29, at the UNF Center. Sponsored by the US Green Building Council-North
Florida. <a href="http://www.usgbcnf.org/event-1817632">http://www.usgbcnf.org/event-1817632</a>
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