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<font size="+1"><i>December 27, 2017<br>
</i></font> <br>
<b><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/climate-consensus-97-per-cent/2017/dec/26/us-government-climate-report-looks-at-how-the-oceans-are-buffering-climate-change">US
government climate report looks at how the oceans are buffering
climate change</a></b><br>
A key chapter of the US Global Change Research Program Report deals
with how the oceans are being impacted by human carbon pollution<br>
The oceans are important because they act as a buffer; that is, they
absorb much of the effects of greenhouse gases. In fact, the oceans
absorb a lot of human carbon pollution. This is a big help for us
because without the oceans, the climate would change much faster...<br>
Since the oceans absorb so much of our carbon pollution and the
resulting heat (93% of the extra heat), they turn a short-term
problem into a long-term problem....<br>
The pollution we emit today will have effects for many years (partly
because of the oceans). We cannot just stop emitting pollution and
think this problem will immediately go away. We have to plan ahead.
And, importantly, we have to stop emitting before most of the
effects are evident.<br>
- the oceans are absorbing almost all the heat from greenhouse
gases...<br>
- the heat may lead to major changes in the ocean currents...<br>
- the oceans are absorbing a lot of the human carbon pollution... <a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://skepticalscience.com/ocean-acidification-global-warming-intermediate.htm">the
oceans are becoming more acidic</a>. <br>
- the observed decrease in the amount of oxygen in the ocean
waters... near the coasts, ...we may see as much as 3.5% decrease in
oxygen. <br>
The <a moz-do-not-send="true" href="http://www.globalchange.gov/">report
is freely available</a>, and the chapters clearly separate out
different topics. I encourage people to download and rely upon this
resource which <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.globalchange.gov/">presents an up-to-date
understanding of climate change</a>.<br>
<font size="-1"><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/climate-consensus-97-per-cent/2017/dec/26/us-government-climate-report-looks-at-how-the-oceans-are-buffering-climate-change">https://www.theguardian.com/environment/climate-consensus-97-per-cent/2017/dec/26/us-government-climate-report-looks-at-how-the-oceans-are-buffering-climate-change</a></font><br>
-<br>
[GlobalChange.gov]<br>
<b><a moz-do-not-send="true" href="https://www.globalchange.gov/">Read
it now NCA4 Review and Comment Now Open</a></b><br>
Review and comment on the public draft of Volume II of the Fourth
National Climate Assessment, Climate Change Impacts, Risks, and
Adaptation in the United States. The deadline for providing comment
is January 31, 2018.<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.globalchange.gov/">http://www.globalchange.gov/</a><br>
<br>
<br>
[wildfires]<br>
<b><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://phys.org/news/2017-12-winters-dampen-small-wildfires.html#jCp">Wet
winters may not dampen small wildfires</a></b><br>
December 22, 2017 by Carol Rasmussen, Jet Propulsion Laboratory<br>
NASA scientists conducting research on the connection between fuel
moisture and fires have uncovered a paradox: a wet winter
corresponds to more small wildfires in the following fire season,
not fewer, as is commonly assumed. Large fires behave more
"logically," with fewer large fires after a wet winter and more
after a dry one...<br>
Jensen and co-authors correlated records of wildfire occurrences
across the contiguous United States from 2003 through 2012 with soil
moisture measurements from the U.S./German Gravity Recovery and
Climate Experiment (GRACE) satellite mission and U.S. Geological
Survey data on vegetation and landscape types. They found that
although each landscape type varied in average soil moisture and
average number of fires, in every landscape type, the number of
small fires increased after a wet pre-season...<br>
Jensen explained that a wet winter causes grasses and other small
plants to grow profusely. These plants dry out and die at the end of
the growing season, leaving abundant fuel for a wildfire. Trees and
larger shrubs, however, retain more moisture after a wet winter.
That might hamper the ability of small fires to grow into large ones
in landscapes containing trees...<br>
Data assimilation, a technique commonly used with weather
forecasting models, adds ongoing observational data throughout the
course of a simulation to keep a model on track...<br>
<font size="-1"><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://phys.org/news/2017-12-winters-dampen-small-wildfires.html#jCp">https://phys.org/news/2017-12-winters-dampen-small-wildfires.html#jCp</a></font><br>
<br>
<br>
[OilPrice.com]<br>
<b><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://oilprice.com/Energy/Crude-Oil/Oil-Major-70-Of-Crude-Can-Be-Left-In-The-Ground.html">Oil
Major: 70% Of Crude Can Be Left In The Ground</a></b><br>
By Nick Cunningham <br>
Canada's oil sands are too dirty to be produced, and should probably
stay in the ground.<br>
That has long been the sentiment of environmental groups, but it is
also gaining acceptance even among some of the largest oil companies
in the world. <br>
"A lot of fossil fuels will have to stay in the ground, coal
obviously … but you will also see oil and gas being left in the
ground, that is natural," Statoil's CEO Eldar Saetre told Reuters in
an interview. "At Statoil we are not pursuing certain types of
resources, we are not exploring for heavy oil or investing in
oilsands. It is really about accessing the most carbon-efficient
barrels."<br>
Meanwhile, Statoil is under pressure at home on another front: its
Arctic wells in the Barents Sea have come up dry, capping off a
highly disappointing drilling season.<br>
If heavy oil and oil sands are to be left unproduced, then a lot of
oil will need to stay in the ground. According to the USGS, about 70
percent of the world's discovered oil reserves are in the form of
heavy oil and bitumen. Much of that comes from Venezuela - one of
the last places in the world that an oil company wants to do
business in these days - and Canada... <br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://oilprice.com/Energy/Crude-Oil/Oil-Major-70-Of-Crude-Can-Be-Left-In-The-Ground.html">https://oilprice.com/Energy/Crude-Oil/Oil-Major-70-Of-Crude-Can-Be-Left-In-The-Ground.html</a><br>
<br>
<br>
[CH4]<br>
<b><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://sputniknews.com/environment/201712251060304709-norway-methane-climate-change/">It's
in the Air! Record Methane Emissions Trigger Norwegian Climate
Alarm</a></b><br>
25.12.2017<br>
Ever-rising emissions of methane, a powerful greenhouse gas, have
triggered the concern of Norwegian climate researchers, who suggest
its effect can exceed that of carbon dioxide, which is more commonly
blamed for global warming...<br>
While the international emphasis in fighting climate change has been
almost exclusive placed on carbon dioxide, its fellow greenhouse gas
methane remains largely overlooked. A new study by the Norwegian
Environment Agency has indicated a record high concentration of
methane in the atmosphere, which may have far-reaching consequences,
the national broadcaster NRK reported...<br>
According to the research carried out by the Norwegian Institute for
Air Research (NILU) on behalf of the country's Environment Agency,
methane's power to absorb the heat emanating from the sun is 25
percent stronger that previously assumed, which means that the
greenhouse gas, which is 32 times stronger than carbon dioxide,
plays a greater role in climate change, as its concentration is also
on the rise.<font size="-1">..<br>
</font>Methane (CH4) is currently listed as the second-largest
contributor to man-made greenhouse emissions after carbon dioxide.
Natural sources account for about 40 percent of the annual global
emissions of methane. In Norway alone, methane accounts for
one-tenth of the environmental footprint...<font size="-1"><br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://sputniknews.com/environment/201712251060304709-norway-methane-climate-change/">https://sputniknews.com/environment/201712251060304709-norway-methane-climate-change/</a></font><br>
<br>
<br>
[Climate Risk Index]<br>
<b><a moz-do-not-send="true" href="https://germanwatch.org/en/12978">Global
Climate Risk Index 2017</a></b><br>
Who suffers most from extreme weather events? Weather-related loss
events in 2015 and 1996 to 2015<br>
The Global Climate Risk Index 2017 analyses to what extent countries
have been affected by the impacts of weather-related loss events
(storms, floods, heat waves etc.). The most recent data available -
from 2015 and 1996-2015 - were taken into account. The countries
affected most in 2015 were Mozambique, Dominica as well as Malawi.
For the period from 1996 to 2015 Honduras, Myanmar and Haiti rank
highest.<br>
This year's 12th edition of the analysis reconfirms that, according
to the Climate Risk Index, less developed countries are generally
more affected than industrialised countries. Regarding future
climate change, the Climate Risk Index may serve as a red flag for
already existing vulnerability that may further increase in regions
where extreme events will become more frequent or more severe due to
climate change. While some vulnerable developing countries are
frequently hit by extreme events, there are also some others where
such disasters are a rare occurrence.<br>
The climate summit in Marrakesh is giving the "go-ahead" on
developing the "rule-book" for the Paris Agreement, including the
global adaptation goal, adaptation communication systems, and
finance assessment systems for building resilience. A review on the
UNFCCC's work on loss and damage provides the opportunity to better
detail the next 5-year's work on loss and damage, in relation to the
climate regime, as well as to better understand exactly how loss and
damage should be taken up under the Paris Agreement.<br>
<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://germanwatch.org/en/download/16411.pdf">Download:
Global Climate Risk Index 2017 [PDF, 1,45 MB]</a><br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://germanwatch.org/en/12978">https://germanwatch.org/en/12978</a><br>
<br>
<br>
<font size="+1"><b><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/27/us/bipartisan-effort-to-restrict-lobbyists-influence-of-attorneys-general.html">This
Day in Climate History December 27, 2014 </a> - from D.R.
Tucker</b></font><br>
December 27, 2014 <br>
The New York Times reports:<br>
<blockquote>"In state legislatures and major professional
associations, a<br>
bipartisan effort is emerging to change the way state attorneys<br>
general interact with lobbyists, campaign donors and other
corporate<br>
representatives.<br>
<br>
"This month, during a closed-door meeting of the National
Association<br>
of Attorneys General, officials voted to stop accepting corporate<br>
sponsorships. In Missouri, a bill has been introduced that would<br>
require the attorney general, as well as certain other state<br>
officials, to disclose within 48 hours any political contribution<br>
worth more than $500. And in Washington State, legislation is
being<br>
drafted to bar attorneys general who leave office from lobbying
their<br>
former colleagues for a year.<br>
<br>
"Perhaps most significant, a White House ethics lawyer in the<br>
administration of George W. Bush has asked the American Bar<br>
Association to change its national code of conduct to prohibit<br>
attorneys general from discussing continuing investigations or
other<br>
official matters while participating in fund-raising events at
resort<br>
destinations, as they often now do. Those measures could be
adopted in<br>
individual states.<br>
<br>
"The actions follow a series of articles in The New York Times
that<br>
examined how lawyers and lobbyists — from major corporations,
energy<br>
companies and even plaintiffs’ law firms — have increasingly tried
to<br>
influence state attorneys general."<br>
</blockquote>
<font size="-1"><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/27/us/bipartisan-effort-to-restrict-lobbyists-influence-of-attorneys-general.html">http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/27/us/bipartisan-effort-to-restrict-lobbyists-influence-of-attorneys-general.html</a></font><br>
<br>
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