Most recent 10 articles: VOX -Environment
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AI already uses as much energy as a small country. It’s only the beginning. - VOX -Environment  (Mar 28) |
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Mar 28 · The energy needed to support data storage is expected to double by 2026. You can do something to stop it. In January, the International Energy Agency (IEA) issued its forecast for global energy use over the next two years. Included for the first time were projections for electricity consumption associated with data centers, cryptocurrency, and artificial intelligence. The IEA estimates that, added together, this usage represented almost 2 percent of global energy demand in 2022 - and that demand for these uses could double by 2026, which would make it roughly equal to the amount of electricity used by the entire country of Japan. We live in the digital age, where ... Read more ... |
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Yes, even most temperate landscapes in the US can and will burn - VOX -Environment  (Mar 28) |
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Mar 28 · Wildfire risk is increasing everywhere, especially in the East and South. Here’s a major reason why. Last month, a heat wave persisted for days in the Chilean coastal city of Viña del Mar. The landscape, already affected by an El Niño-supercharged drought, was baked dry. So, when wildfires sparked, they ripped through densely populated and mountainous terrain. In just a few days, the fires - the deadliest in Chile’s history - burned 71,000 acres and killed at least 134 people. Devastating wildfires like these are becoming increasingly common. Climate change is partly to blame - while research has found that both El Niño and climate change have contributed to intense ... Read more ... |
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Meet the EPA’s new Choose Your Own Adventure! regulation for car pollution - VOX -Environment  (Mar 21) |
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Mar 21 · Here’s what the federal rules mean for car companies, the climate, and you. The Environmental Protection Agency has officially cemented new pollution rules for cars, pickup trucks, vans, and SUVs that the Biden administration called the US’s strongest-ever clean vehicle regulations. The EPA says the new rules will avert 7 billion tons of greenhouse gas emissions and provide close to $100 billion in savings per year across the country in the form of fuel costs, lower maintenance needs, and health benefits. The challenge for the government and carmakers, though, will be actually getting people to buy enough of these cleaner cars to move the needle. And that may be harder ... Read more ... |
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The next big climate deadline is for meat and dairy - VOX -Environment  (Mar 20) |
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Mar 20 · It’s a lot sooner than you think. For years, climate scientists have called for a phase-out of fossil fuels to avoid catastrophic global warming. Now, according to a first-of-its-kind survey of more than 200 environmental and agricultural scientists, we must also drastically reduce meat and dairy production - and fast. Global livestock emissions should peak by 2030 or sooner to meet the Paris climate agreement target of limiting the global temperature increase to 1.5 degrees Celsius, the surveyed climate experts said. In high- and middle-income countries, which produce and consume the overwhelming majority of the global meat and dairy supply, livestock emissions should ... Read more ... |
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Many coral reefs are dying. This one is exploding with life. - VOX -Environment  (Mar 14) |
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Mar 14 · Scientists recently observed a rare phenomenon on a reef in Cambodia that left them in awe - and filled them with hope. The biodiversity crisis, explained Once a year, after dark, a bit of magic happens in the ocean. In tropical waters worldwide, large chunks of coral - those colorful rocklike structures in shallow, coastal waters, each a colony of living animals - start puffing out hundreds of little pearl-sized balls. Some are pink. Others are red, orange, or yellow. For a few minutes, the ocean is a snow globe, and then the balls float away. This phenomenon, known as spawning, is how many corals reproduce. Each ball is a bundle of eggs and sperm from an ... Read more ... |
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Under Biden, US oil production is as high as it’s ever been - VOX -Environment  (Mar 13) |
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Mar 13 · Biden is not “waging war” on American energy. He’s boosting it. The US is the largest crude oil producer in the world, pumping out nearly 13 million barrels on average every day in 2023, an all-time record, according to new data from the US Energy Information Administration. That’s an awkward milestone for President Joe Biden, who has arguably done more than any modern president to facilitate America’s transition away from fossil fuels to greener alternatives. For the last six years, America has outstripped Russia, Saudi Arabia, and other OPEC countries in crude oil production. And it has picked up the pace under Biden, who had approved more permits for oil and gas ... Read more ... |
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Spring is here very early. That’s not good. - VOX -Environment  (Mar 12) |
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Mar 12 · Winter’s insanely early end, explained in one map. Whether it’s fewer snow days or disconcertingly hot temperatures, people across the US are experiencing an increasingly common phenomenon: a winter that doesn’t feel wintry. That’s the result of warmer conditions in many places driven both by climate change and a particularly strong El Nino phenomenon this year. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the 2023-2024 winter is the warmest one it’s seen in the 130 years it’s been tracking. And per the University of Arizona’s National Phenology Network, signs of spring in certain parts of the country - like the budding of the first lilac and ... Read more ... |
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Why New York is suing the world’s biggest meat company - VOX -Environment  (Mar 8) |
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Mar 8 · Meat giant JBS said it’ll reach net zero emissions by 2040. LOL. As public concern about climate change grows, so does demand for lower-emissions consumer goods. And as major meat producers face the fact that their climate impacts may turn away conscientious consumers, they are increasingly claiming to offer low-carbon meat. That includes the Brazilian multinational JBS, the world’s biggest meat company, which in 2021 began claiming that it will achieve net zero emissions by 2040, promising in a full-page New York Times ad that it could serve up “bacon, chicken wings and steak with net-zero emissions.” This claim is, on its face, dubious. Meat, especially beef, is ... Read more ... |
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Does climate change trigger earthquakes? - VOX -Environment  (Mar 8) |
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Mar 8 · Climate change is complex and will play out differently depending on where you are (and who you are). It’s confusing! It’s contradictory! And what am I to do? EVs are expensive, my house leaks heat, and my AC is nonexistent. It’s hot, it’s freezing, it’s hot, aarrggggghgbkjdhfsj! Our world’s climate is changing in ways that well-meaning scientists are trying hard to understand. But this stuff can be difficult to make sense of - even for those who are really plugged into the climate space. Plus, it’s become politicized and polarized, which obviously doesn’t help. That’s why I think our culture needs more conversations in good faith about our warming climate. And that’s ... Read more ... |
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Why is Biden blocking the cheapest, most popular EVs in the world? - VOX -Environment  (Mar 4) |
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Mar 4 · Biden needs to decide if he likes the climate more than he hates China. You can’t buy the Seagull in the US. But I bet you wish you could. A small hatchback around the size of a Mini Cooper, the Seagull is a fast-charging electric car and claims a range of up to 250 miles (at least according to its home country’s generous tests); BYD, its Chinese manufacturer, claims it can go from 30 percent to 80 percent charged in a half-hour using a DC plug. It’s hardly a luxury car but it’s well-equipped, with a power driver’s seat and cruise control. “If I were looking for an inexpensive commuter car … this would be perfect,” veteran car journalist John McElroy said after taking a ... Read more ... |
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