3/26/24 Climate Summary lists good and Bad News
3/5/24 Good News on CO2 removal
But it’s NOT Direct Air Capture (DAC) it’s from sea water!
2/24/24 Possible AMOC disruption
details in this article about concerns
1/12/24 James Hansen – Global Warming Acceleration: Causes and Consequences
Considering the large planetary energy imbalance, it will be clear that the world is passing through the 1.5°C ceiling, and is headed much higher, unless steps are taken to affect Earth’s energy imbalance.
1/12/24 A Minnesota Utility Is Swapping Coal for Solar
1/10/24 A huge battery has replaced Hawaii’s last coal plant
1/7/24 Detailed MIT article on reduced emission cement
1/5/24 January Article by Jim Hanson includes
1/5/24 Positive Review of Batteries by Bill McKibben
12/18/23 Lithium extraction from California’s Salton Sea
12/14/23 Great Presentation update from DRAWDOWN
12/14/23 Cop 28 Detailed review by The Carbon Brief
12/14/23 Climate Acceleration update by Jim Hansen
includes this graphic
Posted 12/5/23 James Hansen interviewed by Beckwith
Very interesting and scary – accelerating increases?
10/13/23 El Nino Fizzles. Planet Earth Sizzles. Why?
Newest Climate analysis from Jim Hansen
10/11/23 Big Climate Targets for ireland
Good climate news: the Irish government has adopted a suite of big-deal climate targets! Last summer, Ireland’s longtime rival parties joined forces to govern together. One of them was the Green Party—and as a result, they’ve committed to go carbon neutral by 2050 and to ban gas vehicles by the end of the decade!
10/7/23 Europe Just Launched the worlds’s first Carbon Tariff
Read the article here
10/7/23 Pope Adresses Climate Change and Rich Country Responsibilities
| He specifically takes aim at citizens of richer countries and the “irresponsible lifestyle” of the developed world. |
| “If we consider that emissions per individual in the United States are about two times greater than those of individuals living in China, and about seven times greater than the average of the poorest countries, we can state that a broad change in the irresponsible lifestyle connected with the Western model would have a significant long-term impact.” |
9/18/23 California Sues Giant Oil Companies, Citing Decades of Deception
Launching one of the most prominent climate lawsuits in the nation, the state claims Exxon, Shell, BP and others misled the public and seeks creation of a special fund to pay for recovery. More at this link
9/18/23 75,000 people just marched in NYC, 600,000 around the world to End Fossil Fuels
Pictures:
8/8/23 The Guardian, July 25: The Gulf Stream system could collapse as soon as 2025, a new study suggests.
The shutting down of the vital ocean currents, called the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC), would bring catastrophic climate impacts. AMOC was already known to be at its weakest in 1,600 years owing to global heating. Researchers spotted warning signs of a tipping point in 2021. A collapse of AMOC would have disastrous consequences around the world, severely disrupting the rains that billions of people depend on for food in India, South America and west Africa. It would increase storms and drop temperatures dramatically in Europe. (AMOC keeps Europe relatively warm compared to other areas at the same latitude, e.g., Canada) More DETAIL.
5/7/23 Summary of great report by Warheads to Windmills
4/20/23 Great new page on Atmospheric Rivers from Climate Central
4/15/23 Greenhouse gases continued to increase rapidly in 2022 – Detailed NOAA article with graphs
3/21/23 Dangerous Increases in Ocean Heat – short Video
3/17/23/ Link to help Pajaro Flood Victims
3/20/23 The Richest AMericans are Super Polluters
3/14/23 It’s not just California
This report shows many other world areas. Drought and deluge: Scientists have long warned that global warming could lead to wetter and drier extremes. These graphics show where it may already be happening.
1/11/23 The Last 8 Years Were the Hottest on Record – NY Times article
1/5/23 Local storm Damage to West Cliff Santa Cruz
for updates on city plans for traffic go here
12/16/11 New Graphic showing temperature Increases
11/28/22
Annals of a Warming Planet – CLIMATE CHANGE FROM A TO Z
The stories we tell ourselves about the future.by Elizabeth Kolbert. Excellent update by this great writer who has specialized in Climate Change
8/11/22 IRA Bill
Despite its flaws we are happy that the Climate (Inflation Reduction Act bill has passed. There is an excellent review of the good (and not so good) features in this video of an EnRoads Webinar. And here are the workshop slides
8/15/22 -Ksqd interview by matilde Rand
She discussed the IRA bill with Roland Saher and Pauline Seales
7/14/22 Disturbing video debunking “Net Zero”
Shows the woeful inadequacy of current trends. It’s worth watching the whole video – less than 5 mins
5/16/22 Latest Newsletter by James Hansen
Titled “Hotter Hotspots, Drier Dryspots, Wetter Wetspots, and Stronger Storms” this is not good news.
5/12/22 Permafrost thaw is threatening Arctic communities and our global climate.
Depressing article – We need urgent action.
5/6/22 Interesting details on Carbon removal methods
From Yale Climate Connections
4/29/22 Panel on Direct Air Capture
4/29/22 “What’s Happening with the Climate”
Includes bad news and good news
3/8/22 Climate Change is Shifting Spring
New details from Climate Central
12/24/21 Don’t Look Up
Excellent satirical movie highlighting the ridiculousness of governments lack of adequate Climate Action. Available on Netflix
12/11/21 Deadly Tornado in Kentucky NYTimes video
Tornadoes in December are extremely rare and this was was both extremely strong and lone lasting and deadly. Link
12/17/21 Scary review by Bill McKibben – A Summer that really scared scientists
Devastating flooding in British Columbia by an “Atmospheric River” Nov 15, 2021
This article includes several short videos and the science of “Atmospheric Rivers”
11/1/21 How Much Are Countries Pledging to Reduce Emissions?
Follow up to article below with breakout info for various countries –
10/25/21 Great interactive graph showing the need for rapid change
9/29/21 THE “GREENLAND CONNECTION
Great article with a good short video includes explanation about why sea level rise is much worse on the East Coast of the USA than California.
8/15/21 Newest Piece by James Hansen
Not good news !
8/11/21 Interactive graphic about changes in Atlantic ocean circulation
Interesting details on the Gulf stream (AMOC) and possible changes in it’s flow affecting weather in many areas
8/9/21 CO2 removal by crushed basalt
Interesting article in Physics World
7/12/21 Off Shore Wind for Ca
Detailed article includes that the turbines will be 20 or more miles off shore
6/12/21 Change in Seasons
Fascinating graphic from the American Geophysics Union showing how seasons have already changed and will have a massive shift by 2100 unless we drastically reduce emissions and remove CO2 from the atmosphere.
https://phys.org/news/2021-03-northern-hemisphere-summers-year.html?
Carbon Dioxide, Which Drives Climate Change, Reaches Highest Level In 4 Million Years. More details in this NPR article
5/27/21
As climate change progresses by droughts and floods will become more intense. For CA droughts and wildfires are a huge problem. Here’s a link to an interactive drought map.
4/22/21 Climate Clock
Compelling graphic – check it out
Alaskan Glacier Now 100x faster
4/14/21 Interesting animation of the Mt Denali glacier speeding up hugely
MIcro Grid News
3/16/21 Link sent out by Jim Hanson
| City of Camarillo approves moving forward with designs for Hybrid Solar Microgrids at five critical community facilities |
| Following favorable feasibility results, Clean Coalition is awarded a contract to manage the design work for the five sites |
| CAMARILLO, CA — On 10 March 2021, the Camarillo City Council unanimously awarded the Clean Coalition a contract to manage design work for Hybrid Solar Microgrids at five City facilities: City Hall, Police Station, Camarillo Library, Wastewater Treatment Plant, and Corporation Yard. The projects are designed to achieve zero net energy over their anticipated 30-year life and will reduce the cumulative carbon footprint of the five sites by approximately 88 percent. The City previously approved moving forward on the Hybrid Solar Microgrids in November 2020, after the Clean Coalition conducted a solar+storage microgrid feasibility study for the sites with TRC Companies as a subcontractor. |
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| Five Hybrid Solar Microgrid sites in Camarillo. |
| The Solar & Storage Microgrid Feasibility Study, available on the City’s website, found that the most feasible and economic solutions would be hybrid systems that incorporate solar, storage, and at the City Hall, Corporation Yard, Police Station, and Wastewater Treatment Plant, a diesel generator. The Hybrid Solar Microgrids will keep those four sites online during multi-day outages, with diesel generators reserved for use only when needed during extended outages. A pure Solar Microgrid, without any diesel, was recommended for the fifth site, the Camarillo Public Library, which does not need to be kept online during an extended power outage but can benefit from solar+storage backup, as available. Of course, all sites are anticipated to enjoy substantial utility bill savings from daily solar generation — and from using the storage to time-shift solar and optimize economic value through time-of-use (TOU) arbitrage and demand charge management (DCM). The next phase of this project involves the Clean Coalition beginning the design work for the Hybrid Solar Microgrids, with TRC again assisting as a subcontractor. Designs are expected to be completed by the end of July 2021. The City is considering two major options for funding the Hybrid Solar Microgrids. One option is grant funding. The City is pursuing a nationwide grant opportunity from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) of up to $50 million per applicant for projects such as microgrids that mitigate risks from natural disasters. Another option for the City is to enter into a power purchase agreement (PPA) with a third-party developer who would build, own, and operate the Hybrid Solar Microgrids. The developer would be selected via a request for proposals (RFP) process. The microgrids are designed to yield utility bill savings at all five facilities. In addition to bill savings, the microgrids will bring the City significant resilience benefits, which the Clean Coalition can quantify using the organization’s straightforward value-of-resilience methodology, VOR123. Recent power outages caused by severe weather across the country have highlighted the need for resilience, a key benefit of Solar Microgrids — which also bring communities significant economic and environmental benefits. “This Hybrid Solar Microgrid project is an excellent example of how the City of Camarillo continues to pursue sustainable efforts that are cost effective, aligning with the City Council Goals & Objectives for Environment/Resource Management,” said Greg Ramirez, Camarillo City Manager. “We are excited to be working with the Clean Coalition to take the next step on these innovative projects.” “By voting to move forward with designs for these hybrid systems, the City of Camarillo has continued to demonstrate significant leadership,” said Frank Wasko, Managing Director of the Clean Coalition. “The Hybrid Solar Microgrids will bring the City unparalleled economic, environmental, and resilience benefits.” |
How Do Countries’ New Emissions-reduction Plans Stack Up?
Thorough review from the World Resources Institute states that a new UN report finds that countries’ emissions-reduction commitments under the Paris Agreement are falling far short of what’s needed to prevent the most dangerous impacts of climate change.
Encouraging Interview with Gina Mcarthy – mar 2021
Biden’s climate chief Gina McCarthy on mobilizing “armies of people” to cut emissions. In an interview with Vox, McCarthy explains what it will take to marshal the power of the federal government on climate.
New Climate Change Maps of the USA
Excellent detailed article including several aspects of Climate Change: Extreme Heat and Humidity, Large Wildfires, Sea Level Rise, Farm Crop Yields, Economic Damages.
It also combines these risks for every county.
Atmospheric Rivers
Interesting article by local UCSC professor Gary Griggs in the Santa Cruz Sentinel Sunday Feb 14, 2021.
Extract:
Two meteorologists have recently documented that our California rainy season is beginning about a month later than it did 60 years ago and it is shorter, meaning more intense rainstorms. This is not something that might happen in the future, however, it’s happening now. With ocean warming, evaporation rates increase. As the atmosphere warms, it can hold more moisture, which means heavier rainfall can be expected in the future.
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Climate Change Performance Index 2021
This is good news/bad news : The USA is doing very badly but the rest of the world is doing much better. Excellent detailed document linked below. On the Overall ranking the USA ranks last at #61, China is in the middle at #33 and Sweden ranks highest at #4 (no country was good enough to rank 1,2,3) published Dec 2020
Climate Change Performance Index (CCPI) 2021 | Climate Change Performance Index
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The US Climate Fair Share – dec 2020
detailed report here
Infographic below
How America was Misled on Climate Change – published October 2019
Latest Yale survey on how American view Climate Change
| Sophie’s Planet #1: Preface and Chapter 106 April 2020 James Hansen |
| Thanks to the Coronavirus, five trips are canceled. Now I can really finish Sophie’s Planet, which is a story of how I learned the scientific method and of the implications that science has for policies needed to assure a bright future for young people and nature. I will send out draft chapters for fact checking. If you are locked away, need something to read, let me know if you find any flaws. Here is the Preface plus Chapter 1. I opened a Twitter account @DrJamesEHansen, (https://twitter.com/drjamesehansen), but will minimize interactions until the book is finished. The Coronavirus and human-caused climate change are both characterized by a delayed response which makes the problem and its solution more difficult. With the virus the delay time is of order weeks; with climate change the delay is of order generations. In both cases, by the time the effects become obvious, there is a much larger response “in the pipeline.” With the virus the lags for an individual are between infection, appearance of symptoms, and ultimate response, which can potentially include death. The lag for spread of the virus is a bit longer, but it is still measured in weeks. With climate change the lags are between emissions, appearance of warming, and ultimate effects such as large sea level rise and species extinctions, which can potentially lead to social disorder and a more desolate world. We are in a race to find remedies in both cases, but the near-term focus on the virus provides a moment to assess the actions needed for climate. It is a solvable problem. It is inappropriate to pile stress on young people, by implying that it is too late for realistic actions to be effective. It is also wrong science. The climate problem is solvable with actions that make sense for other reasons, and the solution will yield a planet less susceptible to pandemics. |
Great new interactive resource from Climate Central showing many different changes graphable for many cities in each state
California Democrats want their own Green New Deal to fight homelessness, climate change. 1/7/20
Interesting article about current science expeditions to the rapidly melting Thwaites Glacier in West Antarctica 12/29/19
METHANE EMISSIONS REVEALED – Special camera shows methane leakages from a a large number of natural gas facilities posted 12/15/19
Democracy Now video of Great Thunberg in Madrid at COP25, Dec 2019
New article by James Hansen includes new simple graphs comparing major emitters. 12/5/19
A new way to remove CO2 from the air. Will be great if they can make it cheap enough and safely store the CO2 removed. Added 10/25/19
IPCC 2019 publication on The Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate
IPCC 2019 on Climate Change and Land
Video about the potential Carbon removal technique called Iron Salt Aerosols. Might be great but should be investigated cautiously. 27 minute youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ri0T3KZ0pYM – added 10/12/19
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Report on record breaking temperatures in June 2019 especially in Europe
As the East prepares for record heat waves here is a new video explaining how the recent unusual weather in the US relates to Climate Change. 7/19/19
More scary news from Greenland this week –Details here
6/18/19
Neo Carbon Renewables analysis 6/18/19
A complex analysis of future renewable energy systems eliminating fossil fuels. An excellent simulation of hourly electricity demands with details for many world-wide regions.
Permafrost Problems 6/14/19
A good new video by Peter Sinclair in the “This is Not Cool” series covers melting permafrost problems. Includes new scientific and government publications of interest to climate activists.
Call for Drastic Action in the Arctic News 6/14/19
Record floods devastate Nebraska – spring 2019
Excellent graphical visualization of world wide Climate Crises 3/7/19
It will open in a separate window. Read the text and go down to the world map. I used my cursor from the bottom moving up to display month by month.
Good 4 min video by Bill Nye 3/14/19
National Geographic article on Climate Change3/14/19
Link to Blog post about Massive hole in Antarctic Ice Sheet 2/4/19
Excellent new short video from Years Project
To join the Extinction Rebellion click here Dec 16, 2018.
Excellent BBC summary of COP 24 in Poland. If you don’t feel like reading the text at least check out the graphics by clicking here or Climate change: Where we are in seven chartsDec 16, 2018
Good article on lifestyle changes with an excellent graphic. I’ve enlarged the graphic for tabling. Dec 8, 2018
Excellent long article by Bill MckibbenNov 18, 2018
Video about Extinction Revolution Nov 18, 2018
New Financial Alternative to help Climate Change Oct 14, 2018,
The City adopted a Climate Adaptation Plan Oct 9, 2018,
www.cityofsantacruz.com/home/showdocument?id+23644
New IPCC report on Climate Change Oct 8, 2018
Discouraging new report on “De-carbonization” efforts around the world. We need to really get onto this RIGHT NOW Oct 6, 2018
Senate Bill 100
- SACRAMENTO – Reaffirming California’s global climate leadership, Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. today signed Senate Bill 100, authored by Senate President pro Tempore Emeritus Kevin de León, setting a 100 percent clean electricity goal for the state, and issued an executive order establishing a new target to achieve carbon neutrality – both by 2045.
“This bill and the executive order put California on a path to meet the goals of Paris and beyond. It will not be easy. It will not be immediate. But it must be done,” said Governor Brown.
“In California, Democrats and Republicans know climate change is real, it’s affecting our lives right now, and unless we take action immediately – it may become irreversible,” said Senator de León. “Today, with Governor Brown’s support, California sent a message to the rest of the world that we are taking the future into our own hands; refusing to be the victims of its uncertainty. Transitioning to an entirely carbon-free energy grid will create good-paying jobs, ensure our children breathe cleaner air and mitigate the devastating impacts of climate change on our communities and economy.”
This is great news. Santa Cruz is already in a good clean energy position with its new Monterey Bay Community Power, but the executive order will require seriously addressing transportation emissions, which are the biggest contributing factor to climate change locally. Sep 10 , 2018
2. The state released its 4th Climate Assessment report August 27th. There are statewide and central coast reports each over 100 pages. The “Key Findings” (0verview) can be reviewed in less than 5 minutes. Link to our Oct 25th event
http://www.climateassessment.ca.gov/state/overview/
http://www.climateassessment.ca.gov/state/index.html
Tomorrow Movie – of you missed the 2 local screenings you can watch it on amazon from $3.99 Tomorrow website- Tomorrow
UN 2017 report This is worth reading in detail as it gives information about serious world-wide efforts.
SeaLevel Rise Hot House Earth pages with lots of info
Santa Cruz Climate Action Network 