A poplar tree farm in Oregon is a fast-growing bioenergy source.

A chronological listing of news articles posted on the Skeptical Science Facebook page during the past week. 

Editor's Pick:

Vast bioenergy plantations could stave off climate change—and radically reshape the planet

On a sunny day this past October, three dozen people file into a modest, mint-green classroom at Montana State University (MSU) in Bozeman to glimpse a vision of the future. Some are scientists, but most are people with some connection to the land: extension agents who work with farmers, and environmentalists representing organizations such as The Nature Conservancy. They all know that climate change will reshape the region in the coming decades, but that's not what they've come to discuss. They are here to talk about the equally profound impacts of trying to stop it.

Paul Stoy, an ecologist at MSU, paces in front of whiteboards in a powder blue shirt and jeans as he describes how a landscape already dominated by agriculture could be transformed yet again by a different green revolution: vast plantations of crops, sown to sop up carbon dioxide (CO2) from the sky. "We have this new energy economy that's necessary to avoid dangerous climate change, but how is that going to look on the ground?" he asks.

In 2015, the Paris climate agreement established a goal of limiting global warming to "well below" 2°C. In the most recent report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, researchers surveyed possible road maps for reaching that goal and found something unsettling. In most model scenarios, simply cutting emissions isn't enough. To limit warming, humanity also needs negative emissions technologies (NETs) that, by the end of the century, would remove more CO2from the atmosphere than humans emit. The technologies would buy time for society to rein in carbon emissions, says Naomi Vaughan, a climate change scientist at the University of East Anglia in Norwich, U.K. "They allow you to emit more CO2 and take it back at a later date."

Vast bioenergy plantations could stave off climate change—and radically reshape the planet by Julia Rosen, Science, Feb 15, 2018

Links posted on Facebook

Sun Feb 11, 2018

• New research, January 29 - February 4, 2018 by Ari Jokimäki, Skeptical Science, Feb 9, 2018
• February 2018 La Niña update: tuned in by Emily Becker, NOAA's Climate.gov, Feb 8, 2018
• How the EPA's Scott Pruitt Became the Most Dangerous Member of Trump’s Cabinet, Opinion by Alexander Nazaryan, Newsweek, Feb 8, 2018
• Climate Change Just Got a Little Less Terrible by Eric Rolston, Climate Changed, Bloomberg News, Feb 9, 2018
• What we get wrong about migration and climate change by Alex Randall, Prospect Magazine (UK), Feb 8, 2018
• Slowly but surely, South Carolina's incredibly complex shoreline is losing ground by Tony Bartleme, Charleston Post & Courier, Feb 11, 2018
• Trump’s Infrastructure Plan May Ignore Climate Change. It Could Be Costly. by Coral Davenport, Climate, New York Times, Feb 10, 2018
• Solar Panel Prices Continue Falling Quicker Than Expected (#CleanTechnica Exclusive) by Zachary Shahan, Clean Technica, Feb 11, 2018

Mon Feb 12, 2018

• Turning Assessment into Action: Advancing China’s Urban Sustainability by Kelsie DeFrancia, State of the Planet, Earth Institute, Columbia University, Feb 8, 2018
• Scientists: Long-Buried Ice Age Forest Offers Climate Change Clues by Debbie Elliott, NPR News, Feb 8, 2018
• Is it possible for everyone to live a good life within our planet’s limits? by Daniel O'Neill, The Conversation UK, Feb 7, 2018
• Coral reefs require ‘radical interventions’ to save them from destruction, say top marine scientists by Josh Gabattis, The Independent, Feb 11, 2018
• Tropical Cyclone Gita smashes Tonga by Michael Daly, Leith Huffadine & Megan Gatte, Stuff (NZ), Feb 12, 2018
• Satellite observations show sea levels rising, and climate change is accelerating it by Brandon Miller, CNN, Feb 12, 2017
• The EPA debunked Administrator Pruitt’s latest climate misinformation by Dana Nuccitelli, Climate Consensus - the 97%, Guardian, Feb 12, 2018
• ExxonMobil’s Climate Disinformation Campaign is Still Alive and Well by Elliott Negin, Union of Concerned Scientists, Feb 12, 2018

Tue Feb 13, 2018

• AGL to spend nearly $1bn on wind farms by Cole Latimer, Sydney Morning Herald, Feb 12, 2018
• What Canola Can Tell Us About Crops And Climate Change by Angus Chen, NPR News, Feb 12, 2018
• Tomgram: Michael Klare, Militarizing America's Energy Policy, Introduction by Tom Engelhardt, Article by Michael Klare, TomDispatch, Feb 11, 2018 
• 11 takeaways from the draft UN report on a 1.5C global warming limit by Megan Darby, Climate Home News, Feb 13, 2018
• Keep it human and visual, says U.N. guide to talking climate by Zoe Tabary, Thomson Reuters Foundation, Feb 9. 2018
• Expect more 'complete surprises' from climate change: NASA's Schmidt by Peter Hannam, Sydney Morning Herald, Feb 12, 2018
• Cyclone wreaks havoc in Tonga's capital, parliament flattened, homes wrecked by John Mair, Reuters, Feb 13, 2018
• ‘I’m Just More Afraid of Climate Change Than I Am of Prison’ by Michelle Nijhuis, New York Times Magazine, Feb 13, 2018

Wed Feb 14, 2018

• Does Climate Change Cause More War? by Robinson Meyer, The Atlantic, Feb 12, 2018
• Exxon Sues the Suers in Fierce Climate-Change Case by Bob Von Voris, Climate Changed, Bloomberg News, Feb 13, 2018
• A Hot, Dry Winter in California. Could It Be Drought Again? by Henry Fountain, Climate, New York Times, Feb 13, 2018
• A Powerful Mix of Solar and Batteries Is Beating Natural Gas by Chris Martin & Mark Chediak, Climate Changed, Bloomberg News, Feb 14, 2018
• Caribbean residents see climate change as a severe threat but most in US don’t — here’s why by Elizabeth J. Zechmeister & Claire Q. Evans, The Conversation US, Feb 14, 2018
• Trump seeks big cuts to science across agencies by Scott Waldman, E&E News, Feb 13, 2018
• Court Sides with Arctic Seals Losing Their Sea Ice Habitat to Climate Change by Sabrina Shankman, InsideClimate News, Feb 13, 2018
• Trump Takes Aim at Obama-Era Rules on Methane Leaks and Gas Flaring by Marianne Lavelle, InsideClimate News, Feb 13, 2018

Thu Feb 15, 2018

• Climate Change is Hurting Children the Most: Here is How to Protect Them by Esther Ngumbi & Sam Dindi, International Press Service (IPS), Feb 2, 2018
• This book ranks the top 100 solutions to climate change. The results are surprising. by David Roberts, Energy & Environment, Vox, Feb 12, 2018
• Leaked U.N. climate report sees ‘very high risk’ the planet will warm beyond key limit by Chris Mooney, Energy & Environment, Washington Post, Feb 14, 2018
• News network climate reporting soared in 2017 thanks to Trump by Dana Nuccitelli, Climate Consensus - the 97%, Guardian, Feb 15, 2018
• The permafrost bomb is ticking by Raj Saha, Yale Climate Connections, Feb 12, 2018
• Even with pledges to fight global warming, you'd better brace yourself for more extreme weather by Karen Kaplan, Los Angeles Tmes, Feb 14, 2018
• It's misleading to ask what Earth's 'ideal temperature' is. Here's what's really important by Andrew Freedman, Mashable, Feb 14, 2018
• South Korea's Ahn Hee-Jung on coal trade: after Paris 'everything should change' by Michael Slezak, Environment, Guardian, Feb 15, 2018

Fri Feb 16, 2018

• Bat Swarms Tracked by Weather Radar Reveal Earlier Migration as Planet Warms by Bob Berwyn, InsideCimate News, Feb 14, 2018
• A Spy’s Guide to Climate Change, Opinion by Justin Gillis, New York Times, Feb  Times, feb 15, 201
• Banks Told They're Lagging on Response to Climate Risks by Jeremy Hodges, Climate Changed, Bloomberg News, Feb 15, 2018
• Saving Winter Is More Than About Snow. It’s About Jobs., Opinion by Jeremy Jones, New York Times, Feb 16, 2018
• Vast bioenergy plantations could stave off climate change—and radically reshape the planet by Julia Rosen, Science, Feb 15, 2018
• Dutch plan to build giant offshore solar power farm by Anthony Deutsch, Reuters, Feb 14, 2018
• Survey says: the American public is souring on coal by David Roberts, Energy & Environment, Vox, Feb 14, 2018
• Some Utah lawmakers deny climate change, but OK a bill recognizing its impacts after hearing pleas from students by Emma Penrod, Salt Lake Tribune, Feb 15, 2018

Sat Feb 17, 2018

• ‘Extreme Cities,’ Climate Change and Class Warfare by Crawford Killian, The Tyee, Feb 16, 2018
• Trump’s top spy just contradicted the White House’s line on climate change by Umair Irfan, Energy & Environment, Vox, Feb 15, 2018
• Who is Guilty of Climate Crimes? by Margaret Klein Salamon, Common Dreams, Feb 16, 2018
• Retreat From a Rising Sea: A Book Review by Jeff Masters, Category 6, Weather Underground, Feb 16, 2018
• Decline in krill threatens Antarctic wildlife, from whales to penguins by Matthew Taylor, Environment, Guardian, Feb 14, 2018
• This company may have solved one of the hardest problems in clean energy by David Roberts, Energy & Environment, Vox, Feb 16, 2018

Posted on 17 February 2018 by John Hartz

source: https://skepticalscience.com/

original story HERE

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