Climate Letter #1175

A major new study about the risk of biodiversity loss stresses the importance of insects.  The study provides a thorough analysis of how all of the major categories of life will be affected by climate change as temperatures rise to higher and higher levels.  Insects turn out to be more vulnerable than either plants or vertebrates, and their loss is a key to the losses of other forms because of the vital services they render. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/may/17/climate-change-on-track-to-cause-major-insect-wipeout-scientists-warn

Here is another review of the same study, this time from Carbon Brief, which provides details from a broader range of all the subject matter that was covered.  In particular, different parts of the globe are expected to have widely differing outcomes affected by migration capabilities, as charted.
https://www.carbonbrief.org/restricting-global-warming-to-1-5c-could-halve-risk-of-biodiversity-loss

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A world-leading expert on biodiversity, who is working on a separate study not yet published, offers comments and his own insights into the importance of the above study.  He wants to see warming held to 1.5C but worries about methods like BECCS—“But even if governments and industry manage to limit warming to 1.5°C, recent research shows that large tracts of land would have to be made available for capturing and storing carbon: some estimates are for up to 18% of the land surface or 24-36% of current arable cropland by the end of this century…..So here is the irony. In order to achieve the 1.5°C target, we may well damage many of the habitats that support biodiversity in order to achieve a target that will save biodiversity.”   https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2018-05/su-bsa051618.php

Many of the world’s “protected areas” for wildlife are not being protected.  One study finds that a third of them “are now under intense human pressure including road building, grazing, and urbanization.”  About 15% of the planet’s terrestrial area is classified as protected.
https://phys.org/news/2018-05-world-areas-degraded-human.html
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Yet another study focuses on the behavior of marine animals that are troubled by a change in ocean water temperatures.  Types that do not swim leave behind fossils showing how for millions of years species have commonly migrated hundreds of miles if necessary to find zones of comfort.  Other studies have shown that migration is already occurring today on a large scale.
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Some facts about world oil consumption, decarbonization and the energy transition.  Renewables are indeed growing at a very fast rate, but from a very small base.  Published data reveals that we are consuming oil and natural gas faster than ever on an absolute basis.  Coal, while now backing off, has still grown more than any other primary source of energy since the year 2000.

https://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/The-Myth-Of-An-Imminent-Energy-Transition.html

Carl

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