IPCC Climate Change 2013, first report

The IPCC 2013 report on The Physical Basis for Climate Change by Working Group 1 is available, both as a complete report and as a Summary for Policymakers at the IPCC web site. I chose to review the summary, which contains key elements highlighted in tan blocks.

You may also want to review the basis for the 4 scenarios they use, known as RCPs for Representative Concentration Pathways. In a nutshell they range from RCP 2.6 which is very aggressive emissions reduction, to RCP 8.5 which is kind of "life as usual" (my definition).

Another thing to be aware of, all the figures referred to in the Summary for Policymakers can be found at the END of the report.

My perspective on the report? It adds a great deal of scientific evidence supporting the human causes of climate change observed so far, and it paints a bleak picture for the future.

Walmart and Solar

Walmart's effort is impressive, and they plan to make money doing solar. For an easy to read, and often times humorous article from Bloomberg:

Wal-Mart Now Draws More Solar Power Than 38 U.S. States

Close up photos of our sun

Respect for our Sun is without question. For an awesome NASA video see:

Canyon of Fire 

Can we capture and convert CO2 into useful plastics?

OLLI class member Tom Lord found the below links and mentioned them in our first class 10/23.

I have reviewed them, and I certainly think they represent avenues worth pursuing. The big issue with carbon capture and storage is not, can we do it?

It is, can we do it economically? If the CO2 is buried in the earth, it has no value. If the CO2 becomes an essential part of a useful plastic, then it does have some value.

Good topic for class discussion. Tom's links are:

http://energy.gov/fe/articles/recycling-carbon-dioxide-make-plastics

http://www.rsc.org/chemistryworld/News/2010/July/28071001.asp

http://theenergycollective.com/dgreenblogger/189811/novomer-produces-co2-based-polyols

http://sciencenordic.com/making-plastic-out-carbon-dioxide

Lewes Roads, Homes and other Resources Prone to Flooding

Below is a partial list of roads and homes in the Lewes-Rehoboth area that are prone to flooding based on my experience. This list is for discussion in class about what some possible adaption steps might be, specifically - protection, accommodation or retreat (see Oct 13 post for more information).

Roads:
- last 3 miles of Prime Hook Road before Prime Hook Beach
- New Road at Canary Creek
- Cedar Ave on Lewes Beach
- Savannah Road north of Canal Bridge
- Route 1 north of Indian River Inlet Bridge

Homes:
- on Prime Hook Beach and Broadkill Beach
- on Dewey Beach
- on Bethany Beach and bayside

Resources:
- Prime Hook NWR
- boat docks and marinas on Lewes Canal

Lewes Tide Levels, and other weather information

Click: Tide levels at the Lewes Weather Station for a plot of recent to current tide level. You can also look up wind speed and direction, air and water temp, and barometric pressure. To view click on the Station info tab, followed by the station Home link, or click here and scroll down.

For reference, flooding begins at about 7 ft. above MLLW (Mean Lower Low Water), and serious flooding occurs at 8 ft or more above MLLW.

Top US Companies Investing Big in Solar

In the agenda for our last OLLI class Nov 20, I mention Walmart and its program to place PV cells on the roofs of its stores. I also posed the question: Is this a significant effort, or just for show? Well it would appear it is a significant effort, at least based on this report by Rhone Resch, President and CEO of the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA).

The information certainly looks encouraging to me.

HOME - "It's not what's gone, it's what remains that is important."

HOME is a very inspiring video on YouTube about Our Planet and how we have exploited it...... AND, how we can help save it. It is an hour an a half long, but well worth your time to watch all of it.  I do plan to show a few segments in our climate class. Most climate change segments appear after 1:00 hr.

BTW, the photography is also awesome.

Adapting to Climate Change

We most certainly will have to adapt to some degree of climate change, from rising sea levels, to rising land temperatures, to more droughts, to more monsoon rains, to more severe storms, and probably even to more GOV incompetence.

Now from the UK Guardian come some specific examples of what you and I can do:
Climate Change, a Survivors' Guide

In our class, I hope to explore further this concept of: "What Can We Do???"
because obviously, we are not going to avert global warming, and all its associated effects.

Delaware and Rising Sea Levels

Several years ago Delaware formed the Delaware Climate Change Steering Committee. In July 2012 this Committee issued a comprehensive 210 page report assessing resources of concern from rising sea levels. Sixteen resources were identified as being of high concern. These included resources such as  beaches, coastal communities, wildlife refuges, tidal marshes, the Port of Wilmington, etc.

This report is available as a downloadable pdf at Made Clear. For the referenced link, scroll down to the 5th report titled, Preparing for Tomorrow's High Tide....Sea Level Rise Vulnerability Assessment for the State of Delaware.

The Steering Committee's next step will be to develop adaptation strategies for the resources of High Concern. Adaptation boils down to one of the following three actions:
1. Protection
2. Accomodation
3. Retreat

As time permits in our upcoming class, we will discuss possible adaption strategies for some local resources, like beaches, coastal communities, Prime Hook NWR, etc.

Climate Education in DE and MD

At Coast Day, Oct 6, 2013 in Lewes DE, I talked with U of DE Research Coordinator, Jennifer Merrill. She was at a booth explaining available education programs about climate change in DE and MD. The web site to view their on-line information is Made Clear.

On this site, they have a TEST where you can check your climate change knowledge. It has a few tricky questions, but also very good explanations about why the right answer is correct. How did Prof Bill do? I'll let you guess, and I will answer truthfully in our first class.

When Climate Change Facts Prevail......

The following 2 paragraphs from the LA Times were so encouraging, because they show that people who understand the causes of climate change, are standing up to the self-interest and unscientific deniers of man-made climate change. From the LA Times:

The Los Angeles Times has stirred a dust-up over global warming with a newly announced policy barring letters to the editor that deny the existence of man-made climate change.

“Simply put, I do my best to keep errors of fact off the letters page; when one does run, a correction is published,” said Paul Thornton, letters editor of the editorial page, in an Oct. 8 column. “Saying ‘there’s no sign humans have caused climate change’ is not stating an opinion, it’s asserting a factual inaccuracy.”  
(Last text bolded by Bill Fintel)

Now in reality, should well founded opposing opinions be edited out??? I will leave that to the LA Times editors.

The pause in global warming...Real??? and if so Why???

My sense has been that the increased heat input to Earth due to increased greenhouse gas emissions has been absorbed by the oceans, and thus caused a temporary pause in land surface temperature rise.

And that may be correct, but here from expert climatologist Dr. Richard Muller of Berkeley, is a more detailed analysis,  A Pause, Not an End, to Warming   (click top link to NY Times article, plus also please explore Berkeley Earth, as we will be exploring it in our upcoming class).