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by Jess Zimmerman. Grist’s offices are in Seattle, so we take this one really seriously: Climate change is threatening Costa Rica’s coffee crops. Coffee’s a fussy little plant, and it can’t handle extreme temperatures, so yields are going way down as temperature inches up. And if you think that’s a buzzkill, try this: An independent study by a Berkeley energy analyst found that growing pot indoors uses the same amount of electricity as running 30 refrigerators. Processed cannabis, the study says, gives off 3000 times its weight in CO2 emissions. Can that possibly be right?
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Climate change kills our buzz, and vice versa
Saudi Arabia is best known for their significant oil reserves and subsequent wealth from oil exports. However, recent criticisms declared that the country is not as oil-rich today as Saudi Arabia has let on.
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Saudi Arabia To Decrease Dependence On Oil And Increase Renewables
Japan’s Ikata Nuclear Power Plant By J. Matthew Roney Nearly four weeks after a 9.0-magnitude earthquake and tsunami devastated northeastern Japan, emergency personnel are still struggling to stabilize the disabled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. Beyond the immediate need to minimize further radioactive leakage and protect public health, the government is beginning to reconsider its long-term plans for nuclear power expansion. International media coverage has typically assumed that Japan must expand its electricity generation from coal, oil, and natural gas if nuclear is no longer an option. But the leaders in Tokyo do not have to be restricted to just these choices. A review of Japan’s geothermal, wind, and solar energy potential shows that domestic renewable resources could easily power the world’s third-largest economy
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Time to Rethink Japan’s Energy Future
The British Medical Journal has a must-read editorial reviewing and synthesizing recent reports on climate change, public health, and national security. The lead author of “ Climate change, ill health, and conflict ,” is Lionel Jarvis, surgeon rear admiral of the UK’s Ministry of Defence. I repost it below in full with links to the references: Damage to the fabric of human society is bad for human health. It can occur for reasons other than war. A recent report by the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) has highlighted that the effects of climate change will present a threat to collective security and global order in the first half of the 21st century.1 This will limit access to food, safe water, power, sanitation, and health services and drive mass migration and competition for remaining resources
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British Medical Journal: Climate change “poses an immediate and grave threat, driving ill-health and increasing the risk of conflict, such that…