Headlines:
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- Global energy-related carbon emissions rose to a record high last year as energy demand and coal use increased, mainly in Asia
- Sea levels have risen between 3” and 18” across the United States coastal regions
- Man-made climate change has reached the gold standard of certainty
- The Green New Deal should be on wheels: GM, Ford, and Fiat Chrysler are no longer interested in building or selling regular cars in the US
- An artificial leaf prototype to reduce greenhouse gas emissions has been developed
- NCWARN / Basecamp people have listed some EV news sites
- Warming water due to climate change is diminishing sustainable fishery yields
- A new study contradicts fears that using solar geoengineering to fight climate change could dangerously alter rainfall and storm patterns [Controversial]
- Microplastic pollution spans the world, according to new studies
- ‘Devastating’ Arctic warming of 9-16°F now ‘locked in’ [Corrected]
LONDON, March 26 (Reuters) – Global energy-related carbon emissions rose to a record high last year as energy demand and coal use increased, mainly in Asia, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said…
Energy-related CO2 emissions rose by 1.7 percent to 33.1 billion tonnes from the previous year, the highest rate of growth since 2013, with the power sector accounting for almost two-thirds of this growth, according to IEA estimates ,,,
China, the United States, and India together accounted for nearly 70 percent of the rise in energy demand.
Sea levels have risen between 3” and 18” across the United States coastal regions. The variance in the increase is due to geographical differences. The West Coast is simultaneously experiencing rising land due to shifting tectonic plates and the Gulf Coast is impacted by sinking land. Every state is different.
SeaLevelRise.org shows historical rates, forecasts, causes and solutions for each state.
Source: — cooleffect.org email newsletter.
Forecasting Rising Sea Levels
Man-made climate change has reached the gold standard of certainty. Scientists state that … there is a one-in-a-million chance that atmospheric heating is not a result of human activity. The idea that scientists don’t know what’s causing climate change is wrong.
GM, Ford, and Fiat Chrysler are no longer interested in building or selling regular cars in the US. Instead, they want to double-down on building polluting trucks and SUVs domestically.
The consequences of this shift are devastating. Jobs are already leaving at a rapid pace. In December, GM announced that it’s cutting 14,000 jobs in North America, shuttering five plants, and discontinuing six car models in favor of an SUV/pickup truck strategy. Ford had already announced that it was abandoning almost all of its car models in the US except for the Mustang. And Fiat Chrysler is set to build its last car in the US later this year.
Source: Climate Reality Project – March 6, 2019: “The Green New Deal should be on wheels”
An artificial leaf prototype to reduce greenhouse gas emissions has been developed at the University of Illinois, Chicago. The leaf would convert CO2 and release oxygen emulating a real plant.
Source: CNN Business – March 14, 2019: “This artificial leaf wants to help fight climate change”
NC WARN has listed some EV news sites:
from Sally Robertson: Clean Technica EV News (“#1 cleantech news, reviews, & analysis site in the world.”) – You can sign up for their e-newsletter
from Emmy Grace: Electric Drive Transportation Association (“Advancing mobility with electric innovation”) – technology and news
from Mark Smith: Triad EV Association (“an educational organization focused on the development of electric drive systems for vehicles of all kinds”) – Group meets in Burlington on the 1st Saturday on the month.
Warming water due to climate change is diminishing sustainable fishery yields in the world’s oceans.
Source: Science News, 2/28/19: “Oceans that are warming due to climate change yield fewer fish”
[Controversial] A new study contradicts fears that using solar geoengineering to fight climate change could dangerously alter rainfall and storm patterns in some parts of the world.
Published in the peer-reviewed journal Nature Climate Change, the analysis finds that cooling the Earth enough to eliminate roughly half of warming, rather than all of it, generally would not make tropical cyclones more intense or worsen water availability, extreme temperatures or extreme rain. Only a small fraction of places, 0.4%, might see climate change impacts worsened, the study says.
One scientist who read the paper published on Monday said it was not comprehensive enough to conclude that solar geoengineering – most likely involving spraying sulphur dioxide into the atmosphere, thereby mimicking gas from volcanoes and reflecting the sun’s heat – would be safe.
Source: The Guardian, 11 March 2019. “Radical plan to artificially cool Earth’s climate could be safe, study finds”
Microplastic pollution spans the world, according to new studies showing contamination in the UK’s lake and rivers, in US groundwater, and along the Yangtze river in China and the coast of Spain.
Source: The Guardian, 6 March 2019, “Microplastic pollution revealed ‘absolutely everywhere’ by new research”
Much of the future warming in the Arctic will depend on our emissions over the 21st century.
A UN Press Release for March 13, 2019 was accompanied by a headline stating “Temperature rise is ‘locked’n for the coming decades in the Arctic”.
[Corrected] However, Carbon Brief, March 16, 2019, found that the report and press release had conflated data about the Paris Agreement target. They both have now been revised.