Articles on or after 4/5/2024: |
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| Legal Planet,Eric Holthaus (The Correspondent),Drilled News,Heated World,New York Times - Climate Forward,New York Times - Climate Section,Washington Post - Energy 202,Washington Post - Climate and Environment,Grist Climate and Energy |
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'Climate-Controlled’ Sausage? Courts Crack Down on 'Greenwashing’ - New York Times - Climate Section (Apr 12) |
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Apr 12 · From airlines to pork sellers, corporate brands face legal and regulatory challenges for misleading the public with lofty climate claims.
A “climate-controlled” sausage. New trousers labeled “recycled.” A “sustainable” airline ticket.
More and more, big brands are using taglines like these to cater to their green-minded customers. And more and more, they are under fire from courts and regulators for making climate promises they can’t keep.
This year, this dynamic is playing out in several countries.
In Denmark, a national court in March told Danish Crown, the country’s biggest pork producer, that it’s misleading to label its pork “climate-controlled,” though ... | By Somini Sengupta Read more ...
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'Narco-deforestation’ and the future of the Amazon - New York Times - Climate Section (Apr 11) |
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Apr 11 · Subscriber-only Newsletter
Climate Forward
The fate of Colombia’s rainforest may lay in the hands of a rebel group linked to drugs and illegal mining.
There’s a struggle for law and order in many of the world’s tropical forests, and nature is losing.
Last week, I wrote about the major progress Colombia made in 2023, slashing deforestation rates by 49 percent in a single year. But this week, we learned the trend reversed significantly in the first quarter of this year. Preliminary figures show tree loss was up 40 percent since the start of the year, Colombia’s Minister of Environment, Susana Muhamad, told reporters on Monday.
Why have things changed so ... | By Manuela Andreoni Read more ...
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“Reprehensible”: Fossil fuel industry infiltrates civil rights convention - Heated World (Apr 16) |
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Apr 16 · TODAY’S ISSUE, IN BRIEF…
Al Sharpton invited paid fossil fuel industry representatives to speak at his annual civil rights conference.
Sharpton’s group did not disclose representatives’ deep financial ties to the fossil fuel industry. Representatives characterized themselves as former lawmakers speaking “truth to power.”
Representatives argued that expanding methane gas is a civil rights issue; that methane gas is clean energy; and that methane gas is more affordable than renewable energy.
Climate justice advocates, who were not represented on the panel, balked. “The fossil fuel industry puts Black lives in danger,” said Mustafa Santiago Ali. “Energy ... Read more ...
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A Total Eclipse of the Heat - Legal Planet (Apr 7) |
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Apr 7 · Millions of Americans traveled this week to the path of totality to hunker down with loved ones and total strangers to gaze upwards at one of the most amazing astronomical events of our lives and share something like a transcendent, spiritual experience. I hope we can collectively reckon with another terrifyingly awesome atmospheric event: the hottest year.
Multiple relentless heat waves occurred in 2023, with much of the globe experiencing 20 more “heatwave days” than in the previous three decades. The annual-average temperature was 1.48 C above the pre-industrial average, just shy of the 1.5 target set by the Paris Agreement – and an astonishing 0.17 C hotter than the ... Read more ...
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Al Gore Thinks Trump Will Lose and Climate Activists Will Triumph - New York Times - Climate Section (Apr 15) |
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Apr 15 · Mr. Gore spoke at a climate leadership conference hosted by his nonprofit organization.
Former Vice President Al Gore was in New York City over the weekend for a leadership training convened by the Climate Reality Project, his nonprofit organization.
On Saturday, before thousands of attendees, Mr. Gore highlighted mounting climate perils but also spoke of progress. He slammed fossil fuel companies for ramping up plastics production and promoting technology to suck carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, which he called “utterly preposterous.”
Afterward, Mr. Gore explained in an interview why he was not surprised that major oil and gas companies have walked back their ... | By Cara Buckley Read more ...
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An Engineering Experiment to Cool the Earth - New York Times - Climate Section (Apr 5) |
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Apr 5 · For more audio journalism and storytelling, download New York Times Audio, a new iOS app available for news subscribers.
Hosted by Katrin Bennhold
Featuring Christopher Flavelle
Produced by Michael Simon Johnson, Eric Krupke, Luke Vander Ploeg and Rachelle Bonja
Original music by Rowan Niemisto, Elisheba Ittoop and Marion Lozano
Engineered by Chris Wood
Decades of efforts to cut carbon emissions have failed to significantly slow the rate of global warming, so scientists are now turning to bolder approaches.
Christopher Flavelle, who writes about climate change for The Times, discusses efforts to engineer our way out of the climate ... Read more ...
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At this climate fair, heat pumps, e-bikes and induction stoves take center stage - Washington Post - Climate and Environment (Apr 13) |
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Apr 13 · WASHINGTON - A loose line of people snaked from a doorway in the side of a cargo truck. One young boy wandered over to examine several bales of hay stacked nearby while others waiting craned their necks to get a peek inside. A small sign in the shape of a barn stuck over the open door read, “Petting Zoo.”
But the queuing visitors weren’t there to meet pigs, goats or sheep. What they wanted was hands-on experience with a different kind of beast: heat pumps.
“We have heat pump everything,” said Vanessa Bertelli, head of the nonprofit Electrify DC, as she walked through the D.C. Armory, an indoor arena, on a recent Saturday.
To her right, a showcase of two brands of ... Read more ...
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Banks Made Big Climate Promises. A New Study Doubts They Work. - New York Times - Climate Section (Apr 9) |
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Apr 9 · Using European Central Bank lending data, researchers said there was not evidence that voluntary commitments were effective in reducing emissions.
Reporting from London
Two and half years ago, bankers and investors attended the United Nations climate summit in Glasgow, an annual event normally dominated by activists and policymakers. It was considered a milestone as the financial sector agreed to put its might into tackling climate change.
Hundreds of banks, insurers and asset managers vowed to plow $130 trillion in capital into reducing carbon emissions and financing the energy transition as they introduced the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero. But a recent ... | By Eshe Nelson Read more ...
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Biden Administration Announces Rule to Strengthen Protection of Public Lands - New York Times - Climate Section (Apr 18) |
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Apr 18 · The measure elevates conservation in a number of ways, including by creating new leases for the restoration of degraded areas.
The Biden administration on Thursday announced a new federal rule for the nation’s sprawling public lands that puts conservation on par with activities like grazing, energy development and mining.
The new rule relates to areas overseen by the Bureau of Land Management, some 245 million acres that make up a tenth of the country’s land, mainly in the West. It elevates conservation in a number of ways, including by creating two new kinds of leases for the restoration of degraded lands and for offsetting environmental damage.
These lands have ... | By Catrin Einhorn Read more ...
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Biden Administration Raises Costs to Drill and Mine on Public Lands - New York Times - Climate Section (Apr 12) |
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Apr 12 · For the first time since 1920, the government has raised the rates that companies pay. The fossil fuel industry says it will hurt the economy.
The Biden administration on Friday made it more expensive for fossil fuel companies to pull oil, gas and coal from public lands, raising royalty rates for the first time in 100 years in a bid to end bargain basement fees enjoyed by one of the country’s most profitable industries.
The government also increased more than tenfold the amount of the bonds that companies must secure before they start drilling.
The new rules are among a series of environmental regulations that are being pushed out as President Biden, in the last ... | By Coral Davenport Read more ...
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Biden hikes cost of drilling on federal lands as Trump courts oil donors - Washington Post - Climate and Environment (Apr 12) |
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Apr 12 · President Biden and Donald Trump this week outlined clashing visions for the future of fossil fuel production across the country, underscoring how the nation’s energy policies hinge on the outcome of the 2024 election.
The Biden administration on Friday finalized a landmark rule that will require oil companies to pay at least 10 times more to drill on federal lands. The rule from the Interior Department’s Bureau of Land Management represents the first comprehensive update to the federal oil and gas leasing program in more than 30 years, and is intended to generate more money for taxpayers.
On Thursday, Trump held a private dinner at his Mar-a-Lago Club and resort with ... Read more ...
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Biden limits oil drilling across 13 million acres of Alaskan Arctic - Washington Post - Climate and Environment (Apr 19) |
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Apr 19 · Future oil and gas drilling will be limited across more than 13 million acres of the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska, the nation’s largest expanse of public land, under a sweeping Biden administration plan aimed at protecting sensitive ecosystems and wildlife.
The Interior Department’s final rule represents one of President Biden’s most significant steps to curb fossil fuel development on federal lands. It could help the president’s reelection campaign court young voters, a key Democratic constituency, after many youth climate activists criticized the administration’s approval of a massive drilling project on Alaska’s North Slope last year.
In a separate move, Interior ... Read more ...
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Biden set to block Alaska road key to accessing planned mine - Washington Post - Climate and Environment (Apr 16) |
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Apr 16 · The Biden administration is set to block a controversial road crucial to operating a planned copper and zinc mine in northern Alaska, saying it would threaten Indigenous communities and fragment wildlife habitat, according to two people familiar with the matter, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment publicly.
The expected decision on Ambler Road reflects the administration’s selective approach toward boosting domestic mining of minerals used in electric vehicles, wind turbines and other clean-energy technologies. It underscores the challenges facing President Biden as he balances an ambitious climate agenda with the need to protect ... Read more ...
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Biden Shields Millions of Acres of Alaskan Wilderness From Drilling and Mining - New York Times - Climate Section (Apr 19) |
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Apr 19 · The administration has blocked a proposed industrial road needed to mine copper in the middle of the state, and has banned oil drilling on 13 million acres in the North Slope.
The Biden administration expanded federal protections across millions of acres of Alaskan wilderness on Friday, blocking oil, gas and mining operations in some of the most unspoiled land in the country.
The Interior Department said it would deny a permit for an industrial road that the state of Alaska had wanted to build through the Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve in order to reach a large copper deposit with an estimated value of $7.5 billion. It also announced it would ban drilling ... | By Lisa Friedman Read more ...
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Big Oil is quietly paying state legal officials to kill climate litigation - Heated World (Apr 11) |
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Apr 11 · At the Society of Environmental Journalists conference this year, we heard about a promising legal case that experts believe actually has a real shot at holding the fossil fuel industry accountable for climate change.
City & County of Honolulu v. Sunoco LP is the first climate liability lawsuit against fossil fuel companies to be greenlit for trial, expected later this year. In it, Honolulu accuses several oil and gas giants of misleading its citizens about the environmental consequences of fossil fuels for decades, and seeks financial compensation for past, present, and future damages to the region.
As a trial comes closer, however, we learned that the lawsuit is facing ... Read more ...
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California Wins Major Clean Air Act/Climate Change Case in D.C. Circuit - Legal Planet (Apr 12) |
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Apr 12 · This week California and the Biden Administration’s Environmental Protection Agency won a critically-important environmental lawsuit in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. The case involves a constitutional challenge brought by a coalition of conservative (“red”) states to E.P.A.’s delegation of federal Clean Air Act (CAA) authority for California to adopt regulations limiting greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from motor vehicles and mandating the state’s steady transition from sales of conventional cars and light trucks to electric vehicles.
The D.C. Circuit’s long-awaited decision is State of Ohio v. Environmental ... Read more ...
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China’s Cities Are Sinking Below Sea Level, Study Finds - New York Times - Climate Section (Apr 18) |
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Apr 18 · Development and groundwater pumping are causing land subsidence and heightening the risks of sea level rise.
As China’s cities grow, they are also sinking.
An estimated 16 percent of the country’s major cities are losing more than 10 millimeters of elevation per year and nearly half are losing more than 3 millimeters per year, according to a new study published in the journal Science.
These amounts may seem small, but they accumulate quickly. In 100 years, a quarter of China’s urban coastal land could sit below sea level because of a combination of subsidence and sea level rise, according to the study.
“It’s a national problem,” said Robert Nicholls, a ... | By Delger Erdenesanaa Read more ...
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Climate Change and Nigeria - Legal Planet (Apr 8) |
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Apr 8 · By the time my youngest granddaughter is thirty, Nigeria will be the world’s third-largest country. It’s also one of the countries that’s least prepared to adapt to climate change, which will be much worse by then.
Nigeria’s population is expected to roughly double by 2050, to around 400 million. The population was previously expected to double again by 2100, but the current estimate is that it will reach “only” about 550 million. In the meantime, China’s population is expected to fall; as a result, Nigeria’s population will be about three-fourths that of China.
The Notre Dame Global Adaptation Initiative rankings show that Nigeria as the 17th most vulnerable ... Read more ...
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Climate Change Is Making Us Paranoid, Anxious and Angry - New York Times - Climate Section (Apr 9) |
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Apr 9 · From dolphins with Alzheimer’s to cranky traffic judges, writes Clayton Page Aldern, the whole planet is going berserk.
Credit...Tom Etherington
Nathaniel Rich is the author, most recently, of “Second Nature: Scenes From a World Remade.”
THE WEIGHT OF NATURE: How a Changing Climate Changes Our Brains, by Clayton Page Aldern
We know, often with abject precision, what climate change is doing to our coasts, rainforests, wildfires and hurricanes; our immigration patterns, crop yields and insurance premiums. But what is it doing to our brains?
This question, for Clayton Page Aldern, is not rhetorical but bleakly literal. Aldern is a Rhodes Scholar who, in ... | By Nathaniel Rich Read more ...
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Clouds part and crowds scream as total solar eclipse delights the U.S. - Washington Post - Climate and Environment (Apr 8) |
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Apr 8 · DALLAS - Would the total solar eclipse, the last to cross the United States for two decades, live up to the hype?
In a city where history suggested clear skies were likely, forecasts of stubborn clouds threatened for days, hours - and even minutes ahead of the stunning syzygy.
Perhaps it was the cooling effect of the moon’s shadows, or just luck, but as totality approached, the cumulus clouds parted. Conditions became immaculate.
“On a scale of one to 10? 30,” said Mike Alexander, 59, who traveled to Dallas from Fresno, Calif.
It was perhaps the country’s most viewed celestial event ever, spreading the darkness of the moon’s shadow across the homes of some 32 ... Read more ...
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Do You Know These Novels Driven by Climate Change? - New York Times - Climate Section (Apr 8) |
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Apr 8 · Welcome to Lit Trivia, the Book Review’s multiple-choice quiz designed to test your knowledge of books and literary culture. This week’s challenge is focused on relatively recent novels that are set in a world where the effects of ecological disruption are quite real and help propel the plot.
Just tap or click on the title you think is correct to see the answer. After the last question, you’ll find links to the novels if you’d like to do some further reading.
1 of 5
This 2020 novel centers on a university librarian who moonlights as an assistant for the host of a climate-change podcast and eventually becomes preoccupied with disaster psychology. What is the ... Read more ...
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Driven by China, Coal Plants Made a Comeback in 2023 - New York Times - Climate Section (Apr 10) |
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Apr 10 · The country, along with India, is still building power stations that run on coal. Elsewhere, retirements of older plants have slowed.
Global capacity to generate power from coal, one of the most polluting fossil fuels, grew in 2023, driven by a wave of new plants coming online in China that coincided with a slowing pace of retirements of older plants in the United States and Europe.
The findings came in an annual report by Global Energy Monitor, a nonprofit organization that tracks energy projects around the world.
Coal’s heavy greenhouse gas footprint has prompted calls for it to be rapidly phased out as a source of energy, and all of the world’s countries have ... | By Max Bearak Read more ...
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Drought Pushes Millions Into 'Acute Hunger’ in Southern Africa - New York Times - Climate Section (Apr 18) |
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Apr 18 · The disaster, intensified by El Niño, is devastating communities across several countries, killing crops and livestock and sending food prices soaring.
An estimated 20 million people in southern Africa are facing what the United Nations calls “acute hunger” as one of the worst droughts in more than four decades shrivels crops, decimates livestock and, after years of rising food prices brought on by pandemic and war, spikes the price of corn, the region’s staple crop.
Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe have all declared national emergencies.
It is a bitter foretaste of what a warming climate is projected to bring to a region that’s likely to be acutely affected by climate ... | By Somini Sengupta and Manuela Andreoni Read more ...
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Dubai’s Extraordinary Flooding: Here’s What to Know - New York Times - Climate Section (Apr 18) |
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Apr 18 · Images of a saturated desert metropolis startled the world, prompting talk of cloud seeding, climate change and designing cities for intensified weather.
Scenes of flood-ravaged neighborhoods in one of the planet’s driest regions have stunned the world this week. Heavy rains in the United Arab Emirates and Oman submerged cars, clogged highways and killed at least 21 people. Flights out of Dubai’s airport, a major global hub, were severely disrupted.
The downpours weren’t a freak event - forecasters anticipated the storms several days out and issued warnings. But they were certainly unusual. Here’s what to know.
Heavy rain there is rare, but not unheard-of.
On ... | By Raymond Zhong Read more ...
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Earth sees hottest-ever March, the 10th record-breaking month in a row - Washington Post - Climate and Environment (Apr 9) |
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Apr 9 · The Earth just recorded its hottest March on record, the 10th month in a row to reach that feat, according to the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service.
Fueled by a mix of human-caused warming and the El Niño climate pattern, the all-time monthly highs were observed both in the air and in the ocean’s waters, the Copernicus report said. The heat over the past 12 months has pushed global average temperatures to an unprecedented 1.58 degrees Celsius (2.84 degrees Fahrenheit) warmer than preindustrial levels, and the hotter air over the Atlantic Ocean in particular could lead to an especially intense hurricane season, scientists warned.
“It should be ... Read more ...
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Earth’s record hot streak might be a sign of a new climate era - Washington Post - Climate and Environment (Apr 19) |
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Apr 19 · The heat fell upon Mali’s capital like a thick, smothering blanket - chasing people from the streets, stifling them inside their homes. For nearly a week at the beginning of April, the temperature in Bamako hovered above 110 degrees Fahrenheit. The cost of ice spiked to ten times its normal price, an overtaxed electrical grid sputtered and shut down.
With much of the majority-Muslim country fasting for the holy month of Ramadan, dehydration and heat stroke became epidemic. As their body temperatures climbed, people’s blood pressure lowered. Their vision went fuzzy, their kidneys and livers malfunctioned, their brains began to swell. At the city’s main hospital, doctors ... Read more ...
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EPA limits toxic air pollution from chemical plants - Washington Post - Climate and Environment (Apr 9) |
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Apr 9 · Five months after moving into her home in Texas City, Tex., encircled by industrial facilities, Nina Patton was diagnosed with breast cancer. She wondered if the pollution billowing from these plants was to blame.
Cancer-causing gases and other toxic air pollution from chemical operations in Patton’s community - and others like it nationwide - will be cut under a rule the Environmental Protection Agency finalized Tuesday. The rule, the first update to national standards in nearly two decades, aims to prevent cancer in low-income and minority neighborhoods that are disproportionately located near such plants.
The regulation specifically targets ethylene oxide, which is ... Read more ...
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EPA mulls tougher limits on new gas plants as 2024 election nears - Washington Post - Climate and Environment (Apr 9) |
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Apr 9 · The Environmental Protection Agency is considering significantly strengthening proposed limits on planet-warming pollution from power plants - a crucial part of President Biden’s climate agenda - according to three people briefed on the matter, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because no final decisions have been made.
The discussions about toughening the standards, which are set to be released this month, have major implications for America’s fleet of power plants, which rank as the country’s second-largest contributor to climate change. They come as the administration weighs the political calculus of weakening or strengthening environmental regulations before the 2024 ... Read more ...
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European court rules Switzerland climate inaction violated human rights - Washington Post - Climate and Environment (Apr 9) |
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Apr 9 · A top European court found Tuesday that Switzerland violated human rights by failing to slow the impact of global warming - a landmark ruling hailed by climate activists even as the court tossed out two other cases that activists had hoped could force governments to protect their citizens from climate change.
Tuesday’s hearings on the trio of cases at the European Court of Human Rights marked the first time an international court has ruled on such cases of climate change inaction, as advocacy groups and lawmakers around the world try to spur governments to take stronger action on climate change through legislation.
The court sided with the Swiss group Senior Women for ... Read more ...
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Filling in the Picture: The Latest From Kennedy about Climate - Legal Planet (Apr 16) |
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Apr 16 · I did a post on Thursday flagging some “unanswered questions” about RFK, Jr. and climate change. I had no intention of ever posting about his campaign again, let alone this soon. But by a wild coincidence, E&E News released a story the very next day about its interview with Kennedy that addressed those questions. Some of his answers may be what you expected. Others may surprise you, like his embrace of natural gas as a fuel and his reservations about regulating emissions.
Climate policy
Kennedy hadn’t previously said much policy approach to climate change during the campaign. The interview filled in some of the picture, although other points remain ... Read more ...
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Five Myths and Half-Truths About California Cap and Trade - Legal Planet (Apr 16) |
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Apr 16 · A key part of California’s climate policy has always been its cap and trade system. Because the regulations aren’t very transparent, there have been a lot of misconceptions about the system. I’ve been digging into the rules, the explanatory website set up by the California Air Resources Board (CARB), and secondary sources to try to figure some of these things out.
Despite complexities, the basic idea behind the trading system is simple. The state sets an annual cap on emissions, distributes allowances (permits to emit a ton of carbon), and then allows the recipients to trade those allowances amongst themselves. The idea is to allow the private market to figure out the cheapest ... Read more ...
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Four Wild Ways to Save the Koala (That Just Might Work) - New York Times - Climate Section (Apr 15) |
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Apr 15 · To protect Australia’s iconic animals, scientists are experimenting with vaccine implants, probiotics, tree-planting drones and solar-powered tracking tags.
A veterinary nurse treats a koala infected with chlamydia at Currumbin Wildlife Hospital in Currumbin, Australia.Credit...
Photographs and Video by Chang W. Lee
It was spring in Queensland, Australia, a season when many wild animals find themselves in trouble, and the Currumbin Wildlife Hospital was a blur of fur and feathers.
A groggy black swan emerged from the X-ray room, head swaying on its long neck. A flying fox wore a tiny anesthetic mask. An injured rainbow lorikeet squawked in its cage. (“Very ... | By Emily Anthes Read more ...
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Great Barrier Reef experiencing one of its worst coral bleaching events - Washington Post - Climate and Environment (Apr 18) |
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Apr 18 · Australia’s Great Barrier Reef is experiencing one of its worst bleaching events since monitoring began nearly four decades ago, authorities say, with much of the famed reef showing signs of damage as warming ocean temperatures blight reefs worldwide.
Bleaching occurs when heat-stressed coral turn white after expelling symbiotic algae that provide food and color. It’s a result of abnormal ocean temperatures in the past year that scientists worry could represent a major change to Earth systems.
In the Great Barrier Reef marine park, 73 percent of the reefs surveyed have prevalent bleaching - which means that more than 10 percent of the coral cover is bleached, the Great ... Read more ...
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Heat-Related E.R. Visits Rose in 2023, C.D.C. Study Finds - New York Times - Climate Section (Apr 18) |
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Apr 18 · Reporting from Washington
The rate of emergency room visits caused by heat illness increased significantly last year in large swaths of the country compared with the previous five years, according to a study published on Thursday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Nearly 120,000 heat-related emergency room visits were recorded in the surveillance program last year, with more than 90 percent of them occurring between May and September, the researchers found.
The highest rate of visits occurred in a region encompassing Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas. Overall, the study also found that men and people between the ages of 18 and 64 ... | By Noah Weiland Read more ...
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Her Art Is at Odds With Museums, and Museums Can’t Get Enough - New York Times - Climate Section (Apr 5) |
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Apr 5 · Gala Porras-Kim has confronted the restitution of cultural artifacts and now - with melting Antarctic ice - climate change.
Karen Rosenberg reported from Denver, Colorado
Inside the Museum of Contemporary Art in Denver, little pieces of Antarctica were melting: cross-sections of an ice core from the continent’s Newall Glacier, each one about the size of a beverage coaster and encased in a vacuum-sealed plastic bag. The artist Gala Porras-Kim watched approvingly during a visit in March, pointing out the air pockets that had started to form.
“The ice cores are an archive of ancient air, because the air gets stuck in the layers of ice,” she said, pointing at the ... | By Karen Rosenberg Read more ...
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Here’s how EVs could get 200 miles per gallon - Washington Post - Climate and Environment (Apr 10) |
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Apr 10 · When the Toyota Prius cruised into North America for the first time in the early aughts, drivers were shocked. At a time when the average sedan got just 23 miles per gallon (and the average passenger car just 20 miles per gallon), the Prius got 48. Thanks to regenerative braking and the little electric motor, its city mileage was better than its highway mileage.
That was then. Now, when it comes to miles per gallon, electric vehicles blow hybrid cars out of the water. The average electric car in the United States today gets the equivalent of 106 miles per gallon. And, according to a new report, that number could more than double in the next decades, to the equivalent of more ... Read more ...
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If you’ve got an EV, Google Maps is about to become much more valuable - Washington Post - Climate and Environment (Apr 17) |
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Apr 17 · Google has announced new features in its Maps app designed to help electric car drivers find a charge.
The updates include a tool to help drivers find nearby chargers with real-time information about availability and charging speed, the ability to find charging stops on longer road trips and more detailed instructions about how to find chargers within parking lots and garages.
Google expects to start rolling out these features “in the coming months,” according to a blog post. Some will come first to people who drive a car that comes with “Google Built-in,” the company’s driver-assistance software. Google updated its other route-finding app, Waze, with information on EV ... Read more ...
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Missouri could crack down on water exports to drought-weary West - Washington Post - Climate and Environment (Apr 13) |
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Apr 13 · Missouri lawmakers say water has almost always been plentiful in their state, giving no reason to think twice about a concept known as riparian rights - the idea that, if you own the land, you have broad freedoms to use its water.
But that could change under a bill advancing quickly in a state legislature that is normally sharply divided. The measure would largely forbid the export of water across state lines without a permit, even though there is no evidence that is happening on any large scale.
Just the specter of water scarcity is inspiring bipartisan support. Besides persistent drought in parts of the state and plummeting Mississippi River levels in recent months and ... Read more ...
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No, EVs are Not Worse for the Planet - Legal Planet (Apr 5) |
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Apr 5 · If you have somehow managed to escape the frenzied political headlines about electric vehicles, first I envy you and second, I must regrettably inform you that the EV has become an acronym of partisan rancor on par with IVF, DEI, and CRT. There’s a lot of reasons for this electric car culture war: President Biden has made EVs central to his climate and economic policies. They intersect with labor politics and growing tensions with China. And cars remain a symbol of American freedom, so the idea of regulating them is an easy boogeyman for Republicans who want to exploit the rural-urban divide.
It’s tempting for climate policy people to just ignore the car culture war, ... Read more ...
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Not All Community Benefits Are Created Equal - Legal Planet (Apr 9) |
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Apr 9 · CLEE has just released a new report, Offshore Wind & Community Benefits Agreements in California: CBA Examples, detailing the CBA and other community provisions in California’s offshore wind leases, as well as examples of CBA precursors and models from other industries. Read it here.
As California offshore wind moves forward, there are opportunities for underserved, environmental justice, and tribal communities to secure benefits and community investment (if communities are interested in negotiating with developers). This is because California’s current offshore wind leases contain different types of community-beneficial measures, including Community Benefits Agreements, or ... Read more ...
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Ocean Heat Has Shattered Records for More Than a Year. What’s Happening? - New York Times - Climate Section (Apr 10) |
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Apr 10 · There have been record temperatures every day for more than a year. Scientists are investigating what’s behind the extraordinary measurements.
The ocean has now broken temperature records every day for more than a year. And so far, 2024 has continued 2023’s trend of beating previous records by wide margins. In fact, the whole planet has been hot for months, according to many different data sets.
“There’s no ambiguity about the data,” said Gavin Schmidt, a climatologist and the director of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies. “So really, it’s a question of attribution.”
Understanding what specific physical processes are behind these temperature records will ... | By Delger Erdenesanaa Read more ...
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Paris says the Olympics will be climate-friendly. Is that possible? - Washington Post - Climate and Environment (Apr 11) |
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Apr 11 · Organizers of the Paris Olympics have pledged that the event will be “historic for the climate,” setting a goal of generating no more than half the planet-warming emissions produced by recent Summer Games in London and Rio.
But putting on an event that attracts nearly 13 million spectators, athletes and officials from over 200 countries is, by definition, a carbon-heavy enterprise. A 2021 analysis of past Olympic Games found that the events have never been very environmentally sustainable, and they’ve tended to get worse over time, despite organizers touting the Games’ green credentials.
“What you can see in the Olympics in general is a difference between the rhetoric ... Read more ...
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Pediatricians say climate conversations should be part of any doctor’s visit - Grist Climate and Energy (Apr 19) |
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Apr 19 · The reality of climate change came home for Dr. Samantha Ahdoot one summer day in 2011 when her son was 9 years old.
She and her family were living in Charlottesville, where Ahdoot is an assistant professor at the University of Virginia School of Medicine. There was a heat wave. Morning temperatures hovered in the high 80s, and her son had to walk up a steep hill to get to his day camp.
About an hour after he left for camp, she received a call from a nearby emergency room. Her son had collapsed from the heat and needed IV fluids to recover.
“It was after that event that I realized that I had to do something,” she said. “That, as a pediatrician and a mother, this ... Read more ...
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Power of the People: Environmental Advocacy in China - Legal Planet (Apr 10) |
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Apr 10 · China’s global rise has raised concerns about impacts on the environment in a bewilderingly wide range of issues. These include global climate change, deforestation, impacts on rare and endangered species, harm to fisheries, environmental impacts of overseas infrastructure, mining, and energy sector investments, to name just a few. Popular attention has often focused on Chinese government action (or lack thereof) and the behavior of Chinese companies “going out” into the world. What role are Chinese civil society organizations playing these days?
Chinese environmental groups had somewhat of a renaissance in the early 2000s, with groups such as Friends of Nature, Global Village ... Read more ...
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Rainstorms Kill More Than 130 Across Afghanistan and Pakistan - New York Times - Climate Section (Apr 18) |
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Apr 18 · Pakistani officials warned of more flooding and heavy rainfall next week, stoking fears of a particularly brutal monsoon season to come.
By Zia ur-Rehman and Christina Goldbaum
Zia ur-Rehman reported from Islamabad and Christina Goldbaum from London.
A deluge of unseasonably heavy rains has lashed Pakistan and Afghanistan in recent days, killing more than 130 people across both countries, with the authorities forecasting more flooding and rainfall, and some experts pointing to climate change as the cause.
In Afghanistan, at least 70 people have been killed in flash floods and other weather-related incidents, while more than 2,600 homes have been destroyed or ... | By The New York Times Read more ...
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Shanahan, Kennedy and Climate Change: Unanswered Questions - Legal Planet (Apr 11) |
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Apr 11 · In a flare-up between former allies last week, Rep. Ro Khanna, a progressive Democrat, asked Nicole Shanahan to think twice about continuing as RFK Jr.’s running mate. His argument was that the campaign could ultimately send Donald Trump back to the White House, risking the destruction of U.S. climate efforts.
The resulting public exchange is revealing about what motivates independent candidates like Shanahan. It also points to a conundrum for the Kennedy-Shanahan ticket: how to address concerns about the climate implications of another Trump Administration.
Khanna’s point was simple: Shanahan cares about climate change, but the RFK candidacy might help elect Trump, who ... Read more ...
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Solar eclipse finishes trek across U.S., with awe in its wake - Washington Post - Climate and Environment (Apr 8) |
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Apr 8 · Today, the moon passed between the sun and Earth, obscuring the face of the sun and casting a shadow across a stretch of North America.
Millions in the path of totality experienced momentary darkness and, for some, a moment of transcendence.
Washington Post reporters, photojournalists, video journalists and editors are scattered across the map today, capturing the experiences of millions of astral enthusiasts during the celestial dance.
Live coverage contributors 35 Read more ...
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Switzerland’s Climate Shortfalls Violate Rights, European Court Rules - New York Times - Climate Section (Apr 9) |
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Apr 9 · But the court ruled as inadmissible two other climate-related attempts to hold governments accountable.
Reporting from London
Europe’s top human rights court said in a landmark ruling on Tuesday that the Swiss government had violated its citizens’ human rights by not doing enough to stop climate change.
But the court rejected climate-related cases brought by the former mayor of a coastal town in France and a group of young people in Portugal as inadmissible.
The cases, the first of their kind to be heard at the court, the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, France, are part of a broader movement of climate-related lawsuits that aim to use human ... | By Isabella Kwai and Emma Bubola Read more ...
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Tell Us: Has Elon Musk’s Behavior Affected How You View Tesla? - New York Times - Climate Section (Apr 12) |
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Apr 12 · Mr. Musk, the chief executive of Tesla, has turned off many people with polarizing remarks on social media, and it may be affecting the automaker’s sales.
Endorsing an antisemitic post on X. Withholding Starlink satellite internet service from Ukraine to prevent a drone attack on Russian forces. Reposting conspiracy theorists who claim that the Biden administration’s immigration policies are part of a plot to increase the number of people who vote Democrat.
Elon Musk’s behavior and public statements have clearly offended many people, especially left-leaning consumers who are the most likely to buy an electric vehicle.
As a business reporter who covers Tesla, the ... | By Jack Ewing Read more ...
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The Biden Administration Raised the Rent to Drill on Public Lands. Here’s What to Know. - New York Times - Climate Section (Apr 12) |
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Apr 12 · The fossil fuel industry says higher rates will harm the economy. The administration says they will pay for the environmental costs of drilling and mining.
The Biden administration raised the royalty rates that fossil fuel companies pay the government in order to drill and mine on public lands, the first time since 1920 that those fees have increased. And it raised by tenfold the size of bonds that companies must secure before they can drill, the first time they went up since 1960.
One way to think about it is this: the nation’s largest property owner, the federal government, effectively charges rent to oil and gas companies that exploit public land for private profit. ... | By Coral Davenport Read more ...
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The only way to save coral reefs - Heated World (Apr 18) |
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Apr 18 · The world’s coral reefs are in bad shape. On Monday, two major scientific bodies announced that record-breaking ocean heat is causing a worldwide coral bleaching event. It’s the fourth-ever mass bleaching event on record, and the second in the last decade. This current global bleaching is expected to be the worst ever recorded, endangering coral from the Caribbean to the South Pacific. I’ve been following this latest mass coral bleaching with concern since Monday. And through it all, I haven’t been able to stop thinking of something one of the world’s premier coral reef scientists told me years ago.
We were chatting for a 2022 story about the world’s most climate-threatened ... Read more ...
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The U.S. just changed how it manages a tenth of its land - Washington Post - Climate and Environment (Apr 18) |
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Apr 18 · For decades, the federal government has prioritized oil and gas drilling, hardrock mining and livestock grazing on public lands across the country. That could soon change under a far-reaching Interior Department rule that puts conservation, recreation and renewable energy development on equal footing with resource extraction.
The final rule released Thursday represents a seismic shift in the management of roughly 245 million acres of public property - about one-tenth of the nation’s land mass. It is expected to draw praise from conservationists and legal challenges from fossil fuel industry groups and Republican officials, some of whom have lambasted the move as a “land grab.” Read more ...
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The U.S. Urgently Needs a Bigger Grid. Here’s a Fast Solution. - New York Times - Climate Section (Apr 9) |
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Apr 9 · A rarely used technique to upgrade old power lines could play a big role in fixing one of the largest obstacles facing clean energy, two reports found.
One of the biggest obstacles to expanding clean energy in the United States is a lack of power lines. Building new transmission lines can take a decade or more because of permitting delays and local opposition. But there may be a faster, cheaper solution, according to two reports released Tuesday.
Replacing existing power lines with cables made from state-of-the-art materials could roughly double the capacity of the electric grid in many parts of the country, making room for much more wind and solar power.
This ... | By Brad Plumer Read more ...
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The unassuming material that could soak up carbon emissions - Washington Post - Climate and Environment (Apr 6) |
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Apr 6 · Minik Rosing grew up around the fine mud flowing from Greenland’s glaciers. It wasn’t until much later, when his own daughter had grown up and was in her mid-20s, that he realized how special it is.
During a family vacation in rural Greenland, where there was no electricity, she was fishing ice out of a milky-blue fjord for a gin and tonic when that mud gripped her feet so tightly that she had to abandon one of her boots.
As temperatures rise, meltwater is flushing out millions of tons of this stuff: ultrafine powder ground down by the island’s melting glaciers. Geologists have a culinary-sounding name for the microscopic particles: “rock flour.”
The loss of his ... Read more ...
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The Widest-Ever Global Coral Crisis Will Hit Within Weeks, Scientists Say - New York Times - Climate Section (Apr 15) |
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Apr 15 · Rising sea temperatures around the planet have caused a bleaching event that is expected to be the most extensive on record.
The world’s coral reefs are in the throes of a global bleaching event caused by extraordinary ocean temperatures, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and international partners announced Monday.
It is the fourth such global event on record and is expected to affect more reefs than any other. Bleaching occurs when corals become so stressed that they lose the symbiotic algae they need to survive. Bleached corals can recover, but if the water surrounding them is too hot for too long, they die.
Coral reefs are vital ecosystems: ... | By Catrin Einhorn Read more ...
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They Came From Outer Space. Now, They’re Going Into Hiding. - New York Times - Climate Section (Apr 8) |
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Apr 8 · Rising temperatures in Antarctica are making meteorites sink out of view before researchers can collect them.
If you’re looking for meteorites, here’s a tip: Go south. All the way south. And do it soon.
In some parts of Antarctica, there’s a good chance that what looks like a regular old rock could actually be a chunk of an asteroid, the moon, or even Mars. Roughly 60 percent of all known meteorites have been collected there.
But scientific sleuthing for such extraterrestrial material, which can shed light on how the solar system formed billions of years ago, will probably get more difficult in Antarctica in the coming decades. That’s because, as temperatures rise, ... | By Katherine Kornei Read more ...
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Three Greenhouse Gases, Three All-Time Highs - New York Times - Climate Section (Apr 9) |
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Apr 9 · Subscriber-only Newsletter
Climate Forward
Why emissions hit record levels last year.
The extreme weather. The melting glaciers. The weirdly warm oceans. They’re all the product of global warming, which is being driven by the release of the three most important heat-trapping gases: carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide.
And according to a new study from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, emissions of those three greenhouse gases continued to surge last year to historic highs.
Global average carbon dioxide concentrations jumped last year, “extending the highest sustained rate of CO2 increases” in NOAA’s 65 years of record-keeping. ... | By David Gelles Read more ...
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Trump’s Mar-a-Lago fundraising pitch to oil executives: I will kill wind - Washington Post - Climate and Environment (Apr 17) |
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Apr 17 · Former president Donald Trump repeatedly ranted about wind power during a fundraising dinner with oil and gas industry executives last week, falsely claiming that the renewable-energy source is unreliable, unattractive and bad for the environment.
“I hate wind,” Trump told the executives over a meal of chopped steak at his Mar-a-Lago Club and resort in Florida, according to a person with knowledge of the meeting, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe a private conversation.
Trump’s comments reveal how he is wooing potential donors with his long-standing hostility to wind farms and pledges to halt this form of renewable energy if he returns to office. His ... Read more ...
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What Can 'Green Islam’ Achieve in the World’s Largest Muslim Country? - New York Times - Climate Section (Apr 17) |
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Apr 17 · Clerics in Indonesia are issuing fatwas, retrofitting mosques and imploring congregants to help turn the tide against climate change.
Inspecting solar panels that provide electrical power to Istiqlal Mosque in December in Jakarta, Indonesia.Credit...
Sui-Lee Wee traveled to three cities in Indonesia to report on this movement.
The faithful gathered in an imposing modernist building, thousands of men in skullcaps and women in veils sitting shoulder to shoulder. Their leader took to his perch and delivered a stark warning.
“Our fatal shortcomings as human beings have been that we treat the earth as just an object,” Grand Imam Nasaruddin Umar said. “The greedier ... | By Sui-Lee Wee Read more ...
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Where drought looms in Kenya, camels are the new cows - Washington Post - Climate and Environment (Apr 17) |
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Apr 17 · The camels had thump-thumped for seven days across northern Kenya, ushered by police reservists, winding at last toward their destination: less a village than a dusty clearing in the scrub, a place where something big was happening. People had walked for miles to be there. Soon the governor pulled up in his SUV. Women danced, and an emcee raised his hands to the sky. When the crowd gathered around an enclosure holding the camels, one man said he was looking at “the future.”
The camels had arrived to replace the cows.
Samburu County’s governor says that the climate patterns have become “abnormal.” The reduction in rainfall is so obvious, he said, that anybody can see it. ... Read more ...
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Why Heat Pumps Are the Future, and How Your Home Could Use One - New York Times - Climate Section (Apr 14) |
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Apr 14 · The highly efficient devices are the darlings of the environmental movement. Here’s why.
Heat pumps, which both warm and cool buildings and are powered by electricity, have been touted as the answer to curbing greenhouse gas emissions produced by homes, businesses and office buildings, which are responsible for about one-third of the emissions in New York State.
But how do they work? How much do they cost? Is New York ready for them? And can they really help solve the climate crisis? Here are some heat pump basics.
Currently, we mostly burn fossil fuels to produce heat. This causes pollution. Heat pumps are all-electric.
Even though most electricity still ... | By Hilary Howard Read more ...
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