[WSMDiscuss] Impact of abrupt sea ice loss on Greenland water isotopes during the last glacial period

[Shiva Shankar]

Mass arrests of climate change protesters continued in London yesterday

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Louise C. Sime, Peter O. Hopcroft, and Rachael H. Rhodes, Impact of Abrupt 
Sea Ice Loss on Greenland Water Isotopes During the Last Glacial Period, 
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, March 5, 2019 
https://www.pnas.org/content/116/10/4099

Significance

The Dansgaard–Oeschger events contained in Greenland ice cores constitute 
the archetypal record of abrupt climate change. An accurate understanding 
of these events hinges on interpretation of Greenland records of oxygen 
and nitrogen isotopes. We present here the important results from a suite 
of modeled Dansgaard–Oeschger events. These simulations show that the 
change in oxygen isotope per degree of warming becomes smaller during 
larger events. Abrupt reductions in sea ice also emerge as a strong 
control on ice core oxygen isotopes because of the influence on both the 
moisture source and the regional temperature increase. This work confirms 
the significance of sea ice for past abrupt warming events.

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UK home secretary demands climate change protesters face “full force of 
the law” By Laura Tiernan 20 April 2019 
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2019/04/20/clim-a20.html

Mass arrests of climate change protesters continued in London yesterday, 
after the Conservative government’s Home Secretary Sajid Javid demanded 
police “use the full force of the law.” More than 682 protesters have been 
arrested since Monday. ...

This week’s protests were organised by Extinction Rebellion (XR), 
attracting support from students and disparate sections of the 
middle-class, including retirees and professionals. An XR protest outside 
oil giant Shell’s corporate headquarters was joined by leading 
environmental lawyer Farhana Yamin, who helped draft the Paris Climate 
Agreement in 2015. Yamin superglued herself to the footpath outside Shell, 
telling reporters, “the legal process is pretty broken right now. And 
we’re having to break law rather than make law, because of the inaction of 
30 years now of these companies.”

A press release issued by XR explained that their members had deliberately 
caused more than £6,000 of damage to Shell property to ensure their case 
is heard by a Crown Court jury (rather than a magistrate), where they hope 
to publicise their concerns over the activities of Shell.

XR’s protest actions, including blocking roads and light rail networks, 
are based on appeals to the capitalist state. XR is calling on the 
government to declare a climate emergency, reduce greenhouse gas emissions 
to net zero by 2025, and create a Citizens’ Assembly on ecological 
justice. XR explains such an assembly would comprise “randomly selected” 
members of the public who would supposedly “work together” on a 
“non-partisan basis” to solve the climate emergency. ...