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<i><font size="+1"><b>June 7, 2020</b></font></i><br>
<br>
[first things, first]<br>
<b>Coffee's robust back-up bean isn't as resistant to climate change
as once thought</b><br>
Farming of both Robusta and Arabica beans will have to adjust to a
new climate..<br>
- - -<br>
Unfortunately, a new study in Global Change Biology challenges the
long-held assumption that robusta will survive reliably in a warmer
world. The authors compiled 10 years of coffee yield and climate
data from nearly 800 farms in Vietnam and Indonesia. They then used
the data to figure out robusta's growing temperatures.<br>
<br>
The power of using real climate and coffee-yield data over a
ten-year period is that scientists can directly see how climate and
coffee interact. Lab-based research is critical for exploring plant
physiological responses to individual stressors, but it has limited
implications for real-world growing scenarios. Previous estimates
for robusta's growing temperature were based on the temperature
range in its native habitat that were then tested in lab
experiments, rather than studies on real-world temperatures and peak
yield. Robusta's growing range, 22 to 30 degrees Celsius, is higher
than arabica's. Using real-world data, the new study found that
although robusta cangrow in this high temperature range, its optimal
growing temperature is actually lower, at 20.5 degrees C. Hotter
than that, and coffee yields begin to drop (about 14 percent per
degree of warming). In short, robusta behaves a lot more like
arabica than previously thought, and we might be overestimating the
amount of coffee robusta will produce.<br>
- - -<br>
Although a lot of coffee research focuses on finding the best
growing temperatures, understanding how coffee plants respond to the
extreme values at either end of their temperature range is also
important. As tropical plants, coffee abhors frost. So temperatures
below freezing are out of the question. But low temperatures above
freezing can still decrease yields, especially while the plants are
flowering. And although robusta plants can grow at high temperatures
-- up to 37 degrees Celsius in a lab -- the plant goes haywire, with
elevated photosynthesis rates causing plants to flower too soon and
and bean to grow too quickly. The effects of rainfall on robusta
also vary; a wetter growing season and drier flowering season lead
to the best yields, but rain can also moderate some of the negative
effects of hot temperatures. Robusta can grow in suboptimal
conditions, but the coffee bean quality suffers -- as do local
economies.<br>
- - <br>
"If the results turn out to be true, I would expect some level of
migration through farmers at higher elevations planting robusta
instead of arabica. Farmers' motivation to do this will vary.
Overall, robusta is a lower-quality coffee and the price is lower,
[but] it is easier to grow," she said in an email. "So, the shift to
robusta will have to be triggered, not just by global warming but by
the inability of farmers to grow arabica at elevations where they
were growing it before global warming."<br>
<br>
No one trait or adaptation will be solely responsible for coffee's
survival or extinction. So while if climate change continues
unimpeded, coffee does risk going extinct, you won't have to change
your morning routine just yet<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.salon.com/2020/06/07/coffees-robust-back-up-bean-isnt-as-resistant-to-climate-change-as-once-thought_partner/">https://www.salon.com/2020/06/07/coffees-robust-back-up-bean-isnt-as-resistant-to-climate-change-as-once-thought_partner/</a><br>
<br>
<p><br>
</p>
[a vanguard state]<br>
<b>New Jersey becomes first US state to add climate change to
kindergarten curriculum</b><br>
The update is a result of new guidelines announced by the State
Board of Education and outlines plans for New Jersey's 1.4 million
students to study about climate crisis from kindergarten through to
graduation<br>
<br>
New Jersey students will start to learn about climate change at the
early age of four-to-six years, as the issue will soon be taught in
kindergarten across the US state.<br>
<br>
The update is a result of new guidelines announced by the State
Board of Education and outlines plans for New Jersey's 1.4 million
students to study about climate crisis from kindergarten through to
graduation.<br>
<br>
First Lady Tammy Snyder Murphy, said: "In New Jersey, we have
already begun to experience the effects of climate change, from our
disappearing shorelines to harmful algal blooms in our lakes,
superstorms producing torrential rain and summers that are blazing
hot.<br>
<br>
"This generation of students will feel the effects of climate change
more than any other and it is critical that every student is
provided an opportunity to study and understand the climate crisis
through a comprehensive, interdisciplinary lens."<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.energylivenews.com/2020/06/07/new-jersey-becomes-first-us-state-to-add-climate-change-to-kindergarten-curriculum/">https://www.energylivenews.com/2020/06/07/new-jersey-becomes-first-us-state-to-add-climate-change-to-kindergarten-curriculum/</a><br>
<p><br>
</p>
<p><br>
</p>
[Resilient opinion]<br>
<b>If My House Were the World: The Renewable Energy Transition Via
Chickens and Solar Cookers</b><br>
By Richard Heinberg, originally published by Resilience.org<br>
June 4, 2020<br>
For the past two decades, my wife Janet and I have been trying to
transition our home to a post-fossil-fuel future. I say "trying,"
because the experiment is incomplete and only somewhat successful.
It doesn't offer an exact model for how the rest of the world might
make the shift to renewable energy; nevertheless, there's quite a
bit that we've learned that could be illuminating for others as they
contemplate what it will take to minimize climate change by
replacing coal, oil, and gas with cleaner energy sources.<br>
<br>
We started with a rather trashy 1950s suburban house on a
quarter-acre lot. We didn't design a solar-optimal house from
scratch the way Amory Lovins did (we thought about it, but we just
didn't have the time or money). We did what we could afford to do,
when we could afford to do it.<br>
<br>
Our first step was to insulate our exterior walls, ceiling, and
floors. That was probably our best investment overall: it saved
energy, and it made the house quieter and more pleasant to live in.
Then we installed a small (1.2 kw) photovoltaic system, and planted
a garden and fruit-and-nut orchard. Gradually, over the years, we
added battery backup for our PV system, a solar hot water heater, a
solar food dryer, chickens, solar cookers, energy-efficient
appliances (including a mini-split electric HVAC system), and an
electric car.<br>
<br>
Here are ten things we learned along the way.<br>
<blockquote><b>It's expensive.</b> Altogether, we've spent tens of
thousands of dollars on our quest for personal sustainability. And
we're definitely not big spenders. We economized at every stage,
and occasionally benefitted from free labor and materials (our
solar hot water panels, for example, were donated, and we built
our food dryer from scrap). Still, once every few years we made a
significant outlay for some new piece of electricity-generating or
energy-saving technology. True, solar panels have gotten cheaper
in the intervening years. On the other hand, there are things we
still haven't gotten to: we continue to rely on an old natural
gas-fired kitchen cooking stove, which really should be replaced
with an induction range if we hope to be all-solar-electric.<br>
<b>Some things didn't work. </b>Early on, we planned and built a
glassed-in extension on the south side of our house. Our idea was
that it would capture sunlight in the winter and reduce our
heating bills. As it turned out, we didn't get the window and roof
angles right, and so we receive relatively little heating benefit
from this add-on. Instead we use it as a garden room for starting
seedlings in the early spring. I suspect the global renewable
energy transition will similarly see a lot of good ideas go awry,
and false starts repurposed.<br>
<b>Some things worked well. </b>Twenty years after purchase, we
have an antique PV system, with museum-quality Siemens panels
still spitting out electrons. We made a big investment up-front,
and got free electricity for two decades. This is a very different
economic bargain from the familiar one with fossil fuels, which is
pay-as-you-go. Similarly, making a rapid global energy transition,
though offering some economic benefits in the long run, will
require an enormous up-front expenditure. We learned that solar
cookers are extremely cheap and pleasing to work with--in the
summer months. Finally, we learned that keeping chickens is an
economical source of eggs, though hens are less cost-effective
from a food-production standpoint if you choose to treat them well
(and continue caring for them after their egg laying subsides), as
we did. There can be valuable side benefits: one hen, who's been
with us for nearly 10 years, has become an emotional support
animal who supplants our need for more costly sources of
psychological aid. I could say much more about her--but that's for
another occasion. Our chickens also provide manure and eggshells
that enrich our soil. We compost some of our greenwaste and keep a
worm bin, thus reducing energy usage by diverting some of our
waste that would otherwise go to a landfill; we seasonally dry
some produce in our solar dehydrator; and we can some of our
fruit. These activities require little financial investment, but
need a noticeable ongoing investment of effort.<br>
<b>Energy storage is especially expensive.</b> Our solar panels
have lasted a long time, but our battery backup system didn't. It
now provides only about 20 minutes of power. True, our battery
system is far from being state-of-the-art (it consists of five
high-capacity lead-acid cells). Nevertheless, this proved to be
the least-durable, least cost-effective aspect of our whole
effort. The truth is, on both a diurnal and a seasonal basis, we
rely almost entirely on the grid for energy storage and for
matching electricity supply with demand. The lesson for our global
energy transition: even though batteries are getting cheaper,
energy storage will still be a costly engineering challenge.<br>
<b>Reduce energy usage before you transition.</b> Because
renewable energy generation requires a lot of up-front investment,
and because energy storage is also costly, it makes sense to
minimize energy demand. For a household, that's not problematic:
we were quite happy shrinking our energy usage to roughly a
quarter of the California average. But for society as a whole,
this has huge implications. It's possible to reduce demand
somewhat through energy-efficiency measures, but serious reduction
will have economic repercussions. We have built our national and
global economic systems on the expectation of always using more. A
successful energy transition will necessarily entail moving away
from a growth-based consumer economy to an entirely different way
of organizing investment, production, consumption, and employment.<br>
<b>Our house is not an industrial manufacturing site. </b>We
don't make our own cement or glass. If we had tried, it would have
been a more interesting experiment, but much harder. We were
undertaking the easy aspects of energy transition. The really
difficult bits include things like aviation and high-heat
industrial processes.<br>
Adding personal transportation to our renewable energy regime
shifted us into energy deficit mode. We like our electric car, but
charging it takes a lot of electricity (the energy needed to
manufacture the car is another story altogether). Once we bought
the car, we realized we need a larger PV system (that's on our
to-do list). For society as a whole, this suggests that
transitioning the transportation sector will require sacrifice
(see number 5, above). A renewable future will likely be less
mobile and more local, and will feature more bikes and ebikes than
cars. We should start shortening supply chains immediately.<br>
<b>True sustainability and self-sufficiency would have required a
lot more money, a lot more work, adaptation to a lot less
consumption--or all three.</b> Our experiment was informal; we
didn't keep track of every way in which we were using energy
directly or indirectly (for example, via the embodied energy in
the products we purchased). We continue to depend on flows of
energy and money, and stocks of resources, in the world at large.
We don't generate the energy needed to mine minerals, or to
manufacture cars, solar panels, or other stuff we have bought,
such as clothes, a TV, computers, and books. The same holds for
food self-sufficiency: we get a lot of fruit, nuts, eggs, and
veggies from our backyard with minimal fossil energy inputs, but
we buy the rest of what we eat from a local organic market. The
world as a whole doesn't have the luxury of going elsewhere to get
what it needs; the transition will have to be comprehensive.<br>
<b>You can't expect someone else to do it all for you.</b> Many
people assume that the cost of the energy transition will somehow
be paid by society as a whole--primarily, by big utility companies
acting under government regulations and incentives. But households
like yours and mine will have to bear a lot of the expense, and
businesses will have to do even more of the heavy lifting. If
households can't afford to buy new equipment, or businesses can't
do so profitably, that will make the transition that much harder
and slower. If we make the transition more through energy demand
reduction rather than new technology, that will require massive
shifts in people's (read: your and my) expectations and behavior.<br>
<b>We're glad we did what we did. </b>Our experiment has been
instructive and rewarding. As a result of it, we have a much
better appreciation for where our energy and manufactured products
come from, and how much they impact the environment. We are more
keenly aware of what we formerly took for granted and how
cluelessly privileged our nation has been in its reliance on cheap
fossil fuels. Our quality of life has improved as our consumption
declined.<br>
</blockquote>
We would do most of it all over again (though I'd put more effort
into designing the solarium that now serves as our garden room). I
would have thought, at the outset, that after 20 years we'd be more
sustainable and self-sufficient than we actually are. My take-away:
the energy transition is an enormous job, and people who look at it
just in terms of politics and policy have little understanding of
what is actually required.<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.resilience.org/stories/2020-06-04/if-my-house-were-the-world-the-renewable-energy-transition-via-chickens-and-solar-cookers/">https://www.resilience.org/stories/2020-06-04/if-my-house-were-the-world-the-renewable-energy-transition-via-chickens-and-solar-cookers/</a><br>
<br>
<p><br>
</p>
<br>
[Digging back into the internet news archive]<br>
<font size="+1"><b>On this day in the history of global warming -
June 7, 2010 </b></font><br>
<p>Washington Post writer Ezra Klein condemns Sen. Lisa Murkowski
(R-AK) for her proposal to strip the EPA of its authority to
regulate carbon emissions.<br>
<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://voices.washingtonpost.com/ezra-klein/2010/06/with_friends_like_lisa_murkows.html">http://voices.washingtonpost.com/ezra-klein/2010/06/with_friends_like_lisa_murkows.html</a><br>
</p>
<p><br>
</p>
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