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<span style="font-size:12.0pt">1. While Italy was locked down in March, auto sales dropped 85%--but battery electric vehicle sales increased. The Tesla 3 led the pack. Tesla’s are sold online.
</span><a href="https://cleantechnica.com/2020/04/12/italian-ev-sales-stay-afloat-in-catastrophic-march-for-car-industry/"><span style="font-size:12.0pt">https://cleantechnica.com/2020/04/12/italian-ev-sales-stay-afloat-in-catastrophic-march-for-car-industry/</span></a><span style="font-size:12.0pt"></span></p>
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<span style="font-size:12.0pt">I take this as a sign that people would like to come out of their current retreat headed for a carbon-free life.
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<span style="font-size:12.0pt">2. A group of scientists have suggested five ways the public can preserve insects, including keeping pesticides away from your lawn (which should be infrequently mown), leaving stumps and dead leaves alone, and reducing carbon
emissions. Insects are fundamental to a healthy ecosystem but are increasingly threatened worldwide.
</span><a href="https://phys.org/news/2020-04-scientists-humanity-insect-extinctions.html?utm_source=nwletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=weekly-nwletter"><span style="font-size:12.0pt">https://phys.org/news/2020-04-scientists-humanity-insect-extinctions.html?utm_source=nwletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=weekly-nwletter</span></a><span style="font-size:12.0pt"></span></p>
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<span style="font-size:12.0pt">2. Peter Sinclair had a conversation with Paul Krugman about “probably the greatest economic contraction in the history of the world.” The article links to Sinclair’s original six minute video and supplies three further short
videos of Krugman’s comments. We now have the necessity of climate action while we cope with the effects of SARS-2. Our slate is being cleansed.
</span><a href="https://climatecrocks.com/2020/04/13/paul-krugman-the-greatest-economic-contraction-in-history/"><span style="font-size:12.0pt">https://climatecrocks.com/2020/04/13/paul-krugman-the-greatest-economic-contraction-in-history/</span></a><span style="font-size:12.0pt"></span></p>
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<span style="font-size:12.0pt">3. A study by mostly Chinese economists and scientists details how achievement of 1.5C of heating or well below the 2C target would allow self-preservation and increasing prosperity, while perseverance in our current course would
end disastrously. Nature Communications has made the article, “Self-preservation strategy for approaching global warming targets in the post-Paris Agreement era”, freely available.
<a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-020-15453-z">https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-020-15453-z</a></span></p>
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<span style="font-size:12.0pt">I take the article as an indication of the strategic intentions of the Chinese government, and as an announcement that they are assuming leadership of climate action. As such it is enormously heartening. The study will need some
revision for the effects of the pandemic. It uses Nordhaus’s conservative estimates of the costs of climate change. US rightwing attention is still likely to focus on the higher upfront costs and slower breakeven schedule for our country. Self-preservation
should be a persuasive motivator, though. </span></p>
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<span style="font-size:12.0pt">4. CBS reports on the self-preservation study. <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/climate-change-action-economic-benefit-study-finds/">
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/climate-change-action-economic-benefit-study-finds/</a></span></p>
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<span style="font-size:12.0pt">The Guardian story on the Chinese study: <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/apr/14/worldwide-climate-commitments-economy-emissions">
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/apr/14/worldwide-climate-commitments-economy-emissions</a></span></p>
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<span style="font-size:12.0pt">5. Methane emissions from wetlands could increase 50-80% by 2100 in a business-as-usual scenario.
<a href="https://phys.org/news/2020-04-global-methane-emissions-wetlands-percent.html">
https://phys.org/news/2020-04-global-methane-emissions-wetlands-percent.html</a></span></p>
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<span style="font-size:12.0pt">6. Projections of approaching levels of heat, including the IPCC estimates, do not include the potential of the carbon cycle feedbacks. Permafrost thaw is a prominent example.
<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span><a href="https://www.carbonbrief.org/analysis-how-carbon-cycle-feedbacks-could-make-global-warming-worse?utm_campaign=Carbon%20Brief%20Daily%20Briefing&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Revue%20newsletter">https://www.carbonbrief.org/analysis-how-carbon-cycle-feedbacks-could-make-global-warming-worse?utm_campaign=Carbon%20Brief%20Daily%20Briefing&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Revue%20newsletter</a></span></p>
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<span style="font-size:12.0pt">7. Due to an unexpected high pressure zone which formed over Greenland in the summer of 2019, melting was greater than had been expected. We do not know if the summer high is likely to return. If it does, we will need to double
our estimate of Greenland’s contribution to sea level rise. <a href="https://phys.org/news/2020-04-unusually-drove-loss-greenland-ice.html">
https://phys.org/news/2020-04-unusually-drove-loss-greenland-ice.html</a><span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span></span></p>
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<span style="font-size:12.0pt">8. In the past year Australia’s main grid carried 25% renewable power.
<a href="https://reneweconomy.com.au/australian-renewables-nudge-milestone-25-share-in-last-12-months-26301/">
https://reneweconomy.com.au/australian-renewables-nudge-milestone-25-share-in-last-12-months-26301/</a></span></p>
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