CRI Bay Area Climate News for December 2015

BAY AREA CLIMATE NEWS December 2015 The Big Picture The Under 2 MOU The Paris Agreement Brings Hope (and lots of work ahead!) @billmckibben: “This agreement won’t save the planet. It may have saved the chance to save the planet (if we all fight like hell in the years ahead).” See Climate Central’s excellent wrap-up with links to a greater role for forests, the 1.5˚C target, the 3.5˚C plan, and more. The World’s CO2 Emissions Fell in 2015. But Don’t Celebrate Just Yet. Vox’s Brad Plumer nicely lays out what the latest numbers mean. Charts! Graphs! Scientists Alarmed at Pacific Ocean Warming It’s not just your no-crab feast this holiday season. The Chronicle’s Peter Fimrite and Kurtis Alexander swim us through “a wholesale shift in the physical and biological makeup of the Pacific Ocean—a transformation so abrupt and merciless…” November Was Earth’s Warmest Recorded November By A Huge Margin Washington Post reporting on NOAA’s latest report. We smashed the record and it wasn’t just El Nino. California’s great gift to the world (along with AB32) is up to 123 signatories now after a big jump at the Paris Climate Talks. See Ken Alex’s slides (OPR) from the pre-Paris CRI webinar with much more info atunder2mou.org. December Spotlight: 3 Cool Bay Area Projects King Tides + El Nino + Storms (coming next week) Owls — The Augmented Reality Binoculars That Let Us See The Future The SF-based company Owlized partnered with Marin County, Climate Access, and FEMA to let residents and visitors “see” the future where they are standing with sea level rise. The point is to engage people on climate change in a compelling manner. See the Marin experience on the web (the Owls are down now) and get ready for San Francisco and San Mateo next. Sea Change San Mateo County Great new web resource, put together by the County of San Mateo, for the sub-region often seen in the Bay Area as “ground zero for sea level rise.” Track the big vulnerability assessment now underway. Follow the SFO, San Bruno, and Colma Creek Resilience Study. Get involved in upcoming workshops! Bay Nature Magazine: El Nino-Beyond the Hype Bay Nature has put together a wonderful string of articles deciphering the deluge of info we have on El Nino, including the latest post on “El Nino and The Blob.” You will get the big science mysteries, impacts on Bay Area species, and much more. NOTE: The fabulous new “Baylands and Climate Change” report featured in our September newsletter can now be found here. Go to the beach (carefully) or watch the King Tide flooding via the web next week (officially Dec 23-24-25). Could be a big week since we already have about 8 inches of sea level rise from El Nino and storms are forecast for the King period as well. Coastal Flooding in California: What You Need to Know NOAA has put together a brand new website with lots of info (charts!) on El Nino flooding in our state. Check it out! CRI Projects for the Bay Area! Cal-Adapt 2.0 Beta Testing (for the holidays!) Photo of the Month The CRI web site now includes 1-page fact sheets for CRI’s first two projects that are underway. Get the scoop on Kristina Hill’s sea level rise strategy analysis project and Mark Stacey’s team effort on coastal protection infrastructure, transportation, and governance. After the New Year, we will be starting three more CRI research projects—on water re-use, carbon sequestration (wetlands, rangelands, forests), and high-resolution climate modeling for Bay Area urban heat, fog and other impacts. Stay tuned. Check the CRI web site for two excellent slide shows on Community Choice Energy—the topic of the second half of our California @ Paris webinar on November 30. The CCE experts from the Bay Area put on a great show (we are told) at the Paris talks. Cal-Adapt, the state’s portal for localized climate data and information, is rolling out 2.0 and is looking for beta testers. Go to the site to learn more about their exciting new data and approaches for 2016. Despite our shortest day not coming until next week, sunset has already moved in the “good direction.” Bay Area sunset has shifted from 4:50 pm to 4:51 pm in the last week and will keep it up till June! On the other hand, we don’t get sunrise earlier until way into January. No, it’s not climate change, blame it on “true solar days.”                                                                                                                                                                      http://climatereadinessinstitute.org/