Today, the Earth got a little hotter, and a little more crowded.
OO Why Solar And Wind Energy Will Take Over Our Power Grid
Much Sooner Than You Think
1. Bipartisan political support is growing
2. Energy storage is getting better
3. Investment in renewables is growing
Related Headline:
OO Solar Energy's Unexpected Conservative Backers
"Tea Party activists gravitate toward free-market choice... so naturally they came on board with solar, with choice and with competition," says Debbie Dooley, founder of the Conservatives for Energy Freedom to promote clean energy among conservatives.
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A US supercell storm. Gabriel Galaz at Wordpress
OO 'An Era Of Extreme Weather':
Big Weather Events Cost U.S. $19 Billion In 2014 - "Evidence shows that we are living in an era of extreme weather," the report said.
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OO As Big Oil and Gas Rethink Climate, Expect Shifts To Clean Energy reports Nick Butler at the Financial Times. Why? Their scientists do understand climate change and its implications - and the companies care about their reputations. One exec noted, "I don't want to work for the tobacco industry."
But most of all, they want to make money, and as clean energy becomes competitive, matching the company's current skills and geographic spread to an appropriate mix of activity in the new energy era makes sense.
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What We're Losing...
OO Climate Change Could Disturb Marine Life For Millennia - not just centuries,
as previously thought, scientists said.
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OO A Ghost from the Past:
"America's Most Trusted Man", Walter Cronkite, Warns of Climate Change - in 1980!
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California's Sierra spring snowpack, an essential reservoir, at average in 2010, left, and now in 2015. Credit NASA
OO Satellite Images Show Scope of Calif.'s Record Low Snow - a record low of 6%, as farmers prepare to take another hit this year...
Related Headline:
OO Bleak California Snowpack 'Obliterates' Record Low
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OO Green Bonds Market Tripled in 2014 - to $30+ billion as compoanies and investors increase financing for clean and efficient energy.
Related Headlines:
OO Investments in Renewables Herald 'Paradigm Shift'
OO Why Low Oil Prices Won't Stop The Growth Of Renewable Energy
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Threatened by climate change. Joachim Huber at Wikimedia Commons
Climate Change Creature Feature:
OO Climate Poses New Threat To Survival Of Arabian Oryx
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Green jobs would explode and millions of lives would be saved if we limited global warming to 2 C degrees increase.
OO Limiting Climate Change Could Have Huge Economic Benefits - stopping global warming at two degrees would create nearly half a million jobs in Europe and save over a million lives in China, says an analysis of the emission pledges made by countries leading up to the UN climate talks.
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Related Headline:
If we do not grow sustainably,
Our children will die inhumanely.
WHAT YOU CAN DO
Join the millions at the Global Population Speak Out Campaign - go here to check it out!
And there are many more actions you can do, right here.
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SOLAR KEEPS DRIVING
Source www.solarkinguk.com
OO The Global Solar PV Market Hit 177GW in 2014,
A Tenfold Increase From 2008
OO Solar Power Is Our Planet's Insurance Policy - not only hedging against climate change, but confering greater energy independence and a healthier economy.
OO Obama Announces Plan to Train 75,000 Solar Workers
NREL
OO Pairing Energy Efficiency With Rooftop Solar Leasing - is the latest in customer options, offering 80% savings over current lease options.
OO Colorado: A Utility Plan Embraces Efficiency and Solar
Without Sacrificing Revenue
OO As California Loses Hydro Resources to Drought,
Large-Scale Solar Fills in the Gap
Computer controlled mirrors follow the sun, converting light into electricity; Raygen Exec John Lasich, forebround. ABC Central Victoria, Larissa Romensky
OO Victoria, Australia: Sun Powers World's First Concentrated Solar Power Station promising very low cost electricity.
Source www.florida.co.uk
OO Florida: Duke Energy to Add 500MW of Large Solar Power by 2024
Check it out here, right now!
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GOOD CLEAN NEWS
OO Coal Loses Nearly 50,000 Jobs, Wind and Solar Add 79,000
OO Asian Solar, European Offshore Wind Drives 2014 Renewable Growth
OO Obama's Climate Plan: Cut Emissions Up to 28% by 2025 not nearly enough to address climate change, but you gotta start somewhere...
OO Third-Party-Owned Solar Advances in the Southeast,
While Renewables Get a Boost in the Midwest - an update on US state-level clean energy news.
OO GE Makes Once-a-Decade Bet on Big Turbines as Energy Use Surges
Japantimes
OO Amazon Japan Starts Selling Electric Cars
OO Spain Got 47%Of Its Electricity From Renewables In March
OO UK Offshore Wind Fund Almost Half Way To $1.5 Billion Target - first of its kind, the fund is drawing support from pension investors and a major sovereign wealth manager.
OO China Follows US Effort To Curb Its Climate Impact
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WHAT WORKS
Speaking Out:
OO Poll: Most Americans - 72%! - Support An International Climate Agreement
OO Syracuse University Is Largest Endowment To Drop Fossil Fuel Stocks Entirely - so far...
OO Colorado: Rural Utility Bucks Its Coal-Based Power Supplier For Renewables
OO Public Health Doctors: Ban Fracking For Five Years - due to its serious hazards to public health, says Medact, an international organization of health professionals for a safer, fairer and better world, in a new report.
OO During Fracking Hearing, Nebraskan Challenges Oil And Gas Commission
To Drink Wastewater - as a community protests the importation of wastewater.
Flawless Logic - why doesn't the USA have it? Source shockernet.net
OO With First Nationwide Fracking Law, Germany Approaches A Ban
"As long as the risks cannot be fully evaluated, fracking will be banned."
OO Shell Oil Cynically Blocking Action on Climate Change, Says Ex-Diplomat
Good Ideas:
OO The Case for E-Bikes
OO This Supercapacitor Is Paper-Thin,
Stores Energy As Well As a Battery
Important Insights:
OO Eating On Land Unlikely To Save Polar Bears
OO Direct Evidence That Global Warming Causes More Global Warming - a new study based on ancient CO2 atmospheric levels stored in ancient ice.
OO Hydropower Could be Risky Bet in Warming World
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WHAT DOESN'T WORK
Fossil Fuel Follies
New York Times
OO Deepwater Horizon, Mexican Style:
4 Killed In Explosion And Fire On Oil Platform
OO Company Wants 100 West Virginians' Land For A Pipeline - via eminent domain... oh-oh...
OO Oil Inudstry Campaigns To See Off America's Public Lands - and guess who wants to drill them to pieces?
Elephants can't survive on oil.
Clueless Leadership
OO Not My Business:
Why Corporate America Is Reluctant To Speak Out On Climate Action
OO Texas Lawmakers Want To Stop Towns From Banning Fracking - hypocrisy on full display...
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OO Mitch McConnell Undermines Obama's Climate Plan With Other Countries - telling them not to trust that Obama can deliver... gee, what a true US patriot YOU are, Mitch!
OO Obama Is Trying To Protect A Huge Arctic Wildlife Zone, But GOP Congress Likely Won't
subtitle:
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WHY WE SHOULD ACT NOW: RISING RISKS
Daily Climate Change: Global Map of Unusual Temperatures, Apr 13, 2015
How unusual has the weather been? No one event is "caused" by climate change, but global warming, which is predicted to increase unusual, extreme weather, is having a daily effect on weather worldwide.
Looking above at recent temperature anomalies, much of the US and the waters surrounding it are experiencing warmer than normal temperatures: the eastern Pacific warm spot continues to prevent much rain from reaching California, sending it into further drought.
Much of the areas surrounding the North Pole are experiencing much warmer than normal temperatures - not good news for our Arctic thermal shield of ice. Hotter than usual temperatures continue to dominate human habitats.
Natural Repercussions:
OO Long-Awaited 'Jump' In Global Warming Now Appears 'Imminent'
OO Southeast Asia Faces Increasingly Intense Climate Events: Analysts
OO Arctic Could Become A Major New Source Of Carbon Emissions confirm scientists.
US Navy satellite
OO Typhoons Are Starting Early This Season: A Big One Targets The Philippines
"Maysak is already the third typhoon of the year, setting a record for the most typhoons so early in the year."
California Dryin':
OO Gov. Brown Orders California's First Mandatory Water Restrictions - ordering towns, cities to cut water use 25% -- not nearly enough th address the real water hogs, agriculture and fracking.
OO California Is Rationing Water Use For First Time Thanks To Climate Change
OO California Drought Is Preview Of Future Global Warming Mega-Droughts
OO California Facing Extreme Heat Waves And Rising Seas - a new study on global warming suggests the worst is yet to come for the state.
More Social Repercussions:
OO Climate Change Makes Droughts In Australia Worse - with serious ramifications for people's health and the agriculture industry, warns the a new Climate Council report, with supporting data.
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KEEPING CARBON STORED: FORESTS UPDATE
Forests: the cheapest way to store carbon
Up In Smoke - the planet is losing sizeable forests each year, and the connection to climate change is clear. Credit Matt Granz, courtesy Twitter/Sacramento National Weather Service
OO Earth Lost Nearly 70,000 Square Miles of Forest in 2014
About 2x The Area of Portugal - mostly due to wildfires, predicted to occur more often and more intensely, which could affect what replaces them.
OO Agribusiness Giant Adopts Historic No-Deforestation Policy - activists are calling it "a major step forward for the soy industry."
OO Despite Deforestation, The World Is Getting Greener: Scientists - but does the new greenery translate into increased carbon storage?
Source mtinweekly.com
OO Large Aspen Die-Offs Likely by the 2050s says a new study due to climate change if emissions are not cut dramatically, adding to a growing body of work suggesting forests worldwide may be imperiled by climate change.
There is, of course, much more news on the consequences and solutions to climate change. To get it, check out this annotated resource list I've compiled, "Climate Change News Resources," at Wordpress.com here. For more information on the science of climate change, its consequences and solutions you can view my annotated list of online information resources here.
To help you understand just what science does and does NOT do, check this out!
Every day is Earth Day, folks, as I was reminded by these wild daisies I photographed one spring. Making the U.S. a global clean energy leader will ensure a heck of a lot more jobs, and a clean, safe future. If you'd like to join the increasing numbers of people who want to TELL Congress that they will vote for clean energy candidates you can do so here. It's our way of letting Congress know there's a strong clean energy voting bloc out there. For more detailed summaries of the above and other climate change items, audio podcasts and texts are freely available.
