Climate Letter #839

Posted on January 27, 2017 by Carl Campbell
Lake Chad could completely disappear within twenty years.  The story is told here in a short video which mostly covers the human side, which is tragic indeed.  You might want to do a regular search to learn more about its fascinating history, including a size at one time greater than that of the current Caspian Sea.

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Rising temperatures are also disrupting mountaintop ecosystems.  This is a globe-wide phenomenon that causes great hardship for biodiversity.  In addition, “About half of the world’s drinking water filters through their high-elevation forests, plants, and soils, among other natural benefits.”
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New fears are expressed about the future effect of losses of Arctic sea ice.  The losses add directly to global warming by allowing oceanic absorption of solar radiation that would otherwise be reflected.  This study calls it a factor that needs more consideration when calculating how soon a gain of 2C should be expected.  The authors see how it could be great enough to offset a significant part of what is thought to be the remaining carbon budget.
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Perspectives on the history of Earth’s CO2 level.  This fine story from Yale e360 places current changes, which are indeed radical, in the context of 500 million years of history.  It’s something everyone who is concerned about climate change should become familiar with, because we soon may be living in a completely different world.  Greenhouse gas and the sun’s radiation have always been the two most important drivers of changes in global climate.  As one was slowly going up over millions of years the other was generally but unevenly heading down, thus achieving a rough sort of balance with a bias toward a net cooling effect.  Then humans came along and accidentally discovered, unlocked and released a massive concentration of one of those drivers, that Nature had supposedly buried far out of reach.  Significant physical changes have to be expected.
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How the five Nordic countries are pursuing a complete transition to clean energy.  They already gain 63% of their electricity from renewable sources, including nuclear and hydro.  The challenge lies with meeting all the rest of their energy needs, which will not be quick or easy, and partly depends on technological breakthroughs.  There is clearly a strong commitment to making it happen.
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What is meant by “blockchain,” and what can it do for the environment?  This post offers a good set of answers.
Carl

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