'Biden-mobile’ or the future of transportation? How EVs got polarized.:
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| 'Biden-mobile’ or the future of transportation? How EVs got polarized. - Washington Post - Climate and Environment |
May 6 · Democrats say they are way more likely than Republicans to buy electric cars. Could that change?
Electric cars have taken off across the United States. Even amid news of slowing sales, the country sold almost 1.2 million fully electric vehicles in 2023, more than quadruple the number in 2019. Grocery stores and rest stops are installing charging stations across the country; electric cars have moved beyond niche status and are being produced by Ford, GM, Hyundai and many others. Read more ...
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'Gap' in Carbon Removal: Countries' Plans to Remove CO2 Not Enough:
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| 'Gap' in Carbon Removal: Countries' Plans to Remove CO2 Not Enough - Science Daily - Earth and Climate |
May 24 · Since 2010, the United Nations environmental organisation UNEP has taken an annual measurement of the emissions gap -- the difference between countries' climate protection pledges and what is necessary to limit global heating to 1.5 ºC, or at least below 2 ºC.
The UNEP Emissions Gap Reports are clear: climate policy needs more ambition. This new study now explicitly applies this analytical concept to carbon dioxide removal (CDR) -- the removal of the most important greenhouse gas, CO2, from the atmosphere.
The study, published today in the journal Nature Climate Change, was led by the Berlin-based Mercator Research Institute on Global Commons and Climate Change ... Read more ...
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'It’s going to be messy’: advocates balance climate action and conservation amid Queensland’s green energy boom:
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| 'It’s going to be messy’: advocates balance climate action and conservation amid Queensland’s green energy boom - Guardian - Energy |
May 4 · 'Some negative projects will get up, but we have to keep our eyes on the broader goals’, says WWF Australia
A map of operating windfarms in Queensland does not take too long to survey – of the 100 or so across Australia, only six of them are in the sunshine state.
But this is about to change in a very big way. According to state government data, there are 46 separate proposals for windfarms in Queensland with four more already under construction.
Many of those plans target the winds that sweep across the spectacular mountains and ridge tops of the Great Dividing Range from central Queensland to the state’s far north.
While this wind-grab will help wrench the ... Read more ...
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2024 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #18:
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| 2024 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #18 - Skeptical Science |
May 5 · "It’s straight out of Big Tobacco’s playbook. In fact, research by John Cook and his colleagues has shown that character assassination has been one of the most common ways in which fossil fuel interests have attempted to deny accountability for the climate crisis."
— Geoffrey Supan
Why go low? Because when one can't fly, one creeps and crawls. Widely remarked: to fall back on ad hominem remarks is to declare intellectual surrender, at best a Hail Mary attempt to change topics— and easily spotted even by children arguing on a playground. "Going ad hom" is a common failure mode when talk turns to human-caused climate change. US Senator (from ... Read more ...
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A Century-Old Company The Government Owns Wants To Solve A Big Energy Problem:
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| A Century-Old Company The Government Owns Wants To Solve A Big Energy Problem - Huffington Post |
May 4 · The Biden administration wants the United States to triple the global supply of nuclear power, with American-designed reactors running on fuel enriched in the West. The goal: Usurp Russia’s near monopoly on atomic energy exports, and keep China from gaining control of yet another green energy industry.
But there’s one big problem: The U.S. isn’t even building any more reactors at home.
After nearly 15 years of billion-dollar cost overruns and delays, the utility giant Southern Company just hooked the second of two new reactors at a power plant in Georgia up to the grid this week - the only two atomic energy units built from scratch in the U.S. in decades. Developers are ... Read more ...
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A rare tropical cyclone landfall is on tap for Tanzania:
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| A rare tropical cyclone landfall is on tap for Tanzania - Yale Climate Connections - Weather |
May 3 · Stay in the know about climate impacts and solutions. Subscribe to our newsletters.
Stay in the know about climate impacts and solutions. Subscribe to our weekly newsletter.
Yale Climate Connections
After suffering at least 155 deaths since March from disastrous floods, Tanzania is bracing for the approach of what could be the strongest tropical cyclone to affect the region in modern recordkeeping, with torrential rains in excess of 10 inches (254 mm) likely along its path.
As of 8 a.m. EDT Friday (12 UTC), the Joint Typhoon Warning Center placed the center of Tropical Cyclone Hidaya about 210 miles east-southeast of Dar es Salaam, the capital and largest ... Read more ...
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Are carbon-capture models effective?:
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| Are carbon-capture models effective? - PHYS.ORG - Earth |
May 4 · Runsheng Yin is a professor in the Department of Forestry in the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, where he specializes in the evaluation of ecosystem services, ecological restoration and general natural resource economics and policy. Yin has published new research identifying that carbon-capture models have not factored in what happens to the timber after trees are logged.
"The climate crisis is heightening, with 2023 representing the warmest year on record," Yin said. "Nature-based solutions have an important role to play in helping us stem the worst impacts of climate change—but rigorously assessed methods to reliably offset and reduce greenhouse gas ... Read more ...
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Are Flight Offsets Worth It?:
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| Are Flight Offsets Worth It? - New York Times - Climate Section |
May 6 · A lot of them don’t work and some might even be harmful. But there are things you can do if you really have to fly.
Credit...Naomi Anderson-Subryan
In recent years, many airlines have phased out the little box encouraging you to “offset your flight’s emissions!” on their checkout pages. Perhaps because so few customers took advantage of them, or perhaps because research has shown that many offset projects are ineffective or worse.
But last we checked, people are still flying. A lot. And the planet is still warming. A lot. So you may still be wondering: Should I offset my air travel? If so, how?
A carbon offset is a credit that you can buy to make up for your ... | By Susan Shain Read more ...
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Brazil mounts frantic rescue effort as flooding kills at least 78:
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| Brazil mounts frantic rescue effort as flooding kills at least 78 - PHYS.ORG - Earth |
May 6 · Authorities in southern Brazil scrambled Sunday to rescue people from raging floods and mudslides in what has become the region's largest ever climate catastrophe, with at least 78 dead and 115,000 forced from their homes.
Entire cities were underwater, with thousands of people cut off from the world by the floodwater, brought by days of torrential rains.
In Porto Alegre, the capital of Rio Grande do Sul state, residents stood on rooftops hoping to be rescued as others in canoes or small boats navigated streets that have become rivers.
After what one climatologist called "a disastrous cocktail" of climate change and the El Niño effect, more than 3,000 soldiers, ... Read more ...
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Charting a cost-efficient path to a renewable energy grid for Australia:
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| Charting a cost-efficient path to a renewable energy grid for Australia - PHYS.ORG - Technology |
May 3 · Raheel Ahmed Shaikh and colleagues modeled possible scenarios for Australia's eastern and western grids, using solar and wind generation, short-to-long-term energy storage, and financial input data to explore low-cost capacity mix. Going completely renewable would require significant expansion of both generation and storage.
Interconnecting the two grids would reduce generation capacity needs by 6% and storage power capacity needs by 14%. The least cost renewable-only grid would be dominated by wind, with between 50–75% of energy contributed by turbines.
Storage would be mandatory for any fully renewable grid. Australia would need the ability to store up to four ... Read more ...
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Climate Change Amplifies Severity of Combined Wind-Rain Extremes Over the UK and Ireland:
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| Climate Change Amplifies Severity of Combined Wind-Rain Extremes Over the UK and Ireland - Science Daily - Earth and Climate |
May 24 · Climate change will cause an increase in extreme winter storms combining strong winds and heavy rainfall over the UK and Ireland, new research has shown.
The new study was led by experts at Newcastle University and the Met Office and investigated how future climate change may influence compound wind-rain extremes, which are events where extreme wind and rainfall occur simultaneously.
These changes are mainly driven by increased rainfall, a thermodynamic response to rising temperatures. Additional contributing factors include a strengthened jet stream and its southward displacement that brings storms through warmer areas leading to further increases in ... Read more ...
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Climate change threatens mountain meadows by reducing humus content, finds study:
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| Climate change threatens mountain meadows by reducing humus content, finds study - PHYS.ORG - Earth |
May 3 · To recreate the effects of climate change under realistic conditions, the researchers used soil–plant mesocosms. These miniature ecosystems consist of units containing soil samples. By moving the mesocosms along an elevation gradient from higher, cooler locations to lower, warmer locations, the scientists simulated climate change. Thereby, they simulated a warming of up to 3°C, depending on the difference in altitude between the original and the new locations.
"Studying soil responses to climate change in detail helps us to better understand the long-term effects on alpine grassland ecosystems," says soil researcher Dr. Noelia Garcia-Franco. The study was carried out ... Read more ...
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Cold sintering may rescue plastic, ceramics, battery components from landfills:
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| Cold sintering may rescue plastic, ceramics, battery components from landfills - PHYS.ORG - Earth |
May 3 · However, cold sintering—the process of combining powder-based materials into dense forms at low temperatures through applied pressure using solvents—allows for materials to be recycled again and again.
"That's the idea with cold sintering: you can take two or more materials that were destined for the landfill, combine them and create a composite, and recycle the composite again and again, without a loss in performance," Gomez said.
In three recent papers, Gomez and his team outline three new uses for cold sintering that advance recycling in materials science.
In a paper published in Materials Horizons, researchers used cold sintering to combine ... Read more ...
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Contemporary wildfires not more severe than historically in western US dry forests: Study:
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| Contemporary wildfires not more severe than historically in western US dry forests: Study - PHYS.ORG - Biology |
May 3 · I addressed this question in a new study in Sustainability. Dry forests are ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa) and dry mixed-conifer forests with ponderosa dominant, but other trees are common. They often occur at the lower limits of forests near woodlands, shrublands, and grasslands.
Earlier, we showed these forests were historically subject to a mixture of low-, moderate- and high-severity fires, as occurred recently in a fire I photographed in a dry forest in northern New Mexico. This mixed-severity historical fire model better fits historical evidence, so the alternative low-severity fire model was rejected.
A 2023 study used US Government Landfire data to show that ... Read more ...
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Cyclone bears down on flood-hit Kenya, Tanzania:
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| Cyclone bears down on flood-hit Kenya, Tanzania - PHYS.ORG - Earth |
May 5 · Beaches were deserted and many shops closed on Saturday as heavy rains and winds from a tropical cyclone buffeted coastal areas of Tanzania and Kenya.
Both countries have gone on alert for Tropical Cyclone Hidaya, after weeks of torrential rains and floods that have wreaked havoc in many parts of East Africa and claimed more than 400 lives.
But there were no reports of casualties or damage as of Saturday afternoon as the cyclone rolled in from the Indian Ocean and made landfall in Tanzania.
"It's so strange today to see only few people at the beach. We are used to seeing crowds, especially during the weekend," said Yusuf Hassan, a resident of Tanzania's main city ... Read more ...
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Demystifying the complex nature of Arctic clouds:
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| Demystifying the complex nature of Arctic clouds - PHYS.ORG - Earth |
May 3 · With dancing ribbons of light visible in the sky, a team of researchers flew on a series of scenic and sometimes stormy flights into the cold unknown, trying to learn more about why one of the most frigid places on Earth is warming at a feverish pace.
"The Arctic is changing rapidly, warming at a rate two to four times faster than the global average," said Paquita Zuidema, professor and chair of atmospheric sciences at the Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmospheric, and Earth Science and the principal investigator of CAESAR, or Cold-Air Outbreak Experiment in the Sub-Arctic Region.
"A consensus on why and how this is occurring is still lacking, and questions remain on how ... Read more ...
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Did a Magnetic Field Collapse Trigger the Emergence of Animals?:
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| Did a Magnetic Field Collapse Trigger the Emergence of Animals? - Science Daily - Earth and Climate |
May 24 · The Ediacaran Period, spanning from about 635 to 541 million years ago, was a pivotal time in Earth's history. It marked a transformative era during which complex, multicellular organisms emerged, setting the stage for the explosion of life.
But how did this surge of life unfold and what factors on Earth may have contributed to it?
According to John Tarduno, the William Kenan, Jr. Professor in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, one of the most remarkable life forms during the Ediacaran Period was the Ediacaran fauna. They were notable for their resemblance to early animals -- some even reached more than a meter (three feet) in size and were mobile, ... Read more ...
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Electric vehicles will start to cut emissions and improve air quality in our cities - but only once they're common:
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| Electric vehicles will start to cut emissions and improve air quality in our cities - but only once they're common - PHYS.ORG - Technology |
May 4 · Is this view correct? Yes—but only once uptake accelerates. Despite the recent boom in EV purchases, they're still a tiny minority of the cars on the road.
We would get more immediate benefit by focusing on electrifying buses, which are a surprisingly large source of air pollution, and finding ways to cut rapidly growing emissions from diesel trucks.
While the electricity sector still produces the largest share of emissions in Australia (32.3%), emissions are falling. But emissions from transport (21.1%) are already the third-largest contributor—and are rising faster and faster.
Critics say EVs just shift the emissions and pollution from tailpipe to ... Read more ...
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Empowering Pacific & NE Asia Youth: Peacebuilders & Climate Advocates Workshop | United Nations:
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| Empowering Pacific & NE Asia Youth: Peacebuilders & Climate Advocates Workshop | United Nations - Climate Change (United Nations - Playlist) |
May 4 · The video follows young peacebuilders and climate advocates from the Pacific and Northeast Asia regions as they participate in a strategic foresight youth workshop in Samoa co-organized by the United Nations Department of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs (UNDPPA) and UNDP Samoa. \n\nCo-created by Youth for Youth, participants utilized strategic foresight tools to explore pathways to a peaceful, just, and sustainable future and transition in line with the 1.5 degrees Celsius benchmark in the Paris Agreement and important regional frameworks such as the Pacific Islands Forum Boe Declaration (2018) and the 2050 Strategy for the Blue Pacific Continent.\n\nProduced for the Department of ... | By United Nations Read more ...
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Extreme heat drives Chile wildfires leaving at least 51 dead:
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| Extreme heat drives Chile wildfires leaving at least 51 dead - PHYS.ORG - Earth |
May 5 · Chileans Sunday feared a rise in the death toll from wildfires blazing across the South American country that have already killed at least 51 people, leaving bodies in the street and homes gutted.
Authorities warned Sunday of "complicated" conditions as they battled fires in the coastal tourist region of Valparaiso amid an intense summer heat wave, with temperatures soaring to 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) over the weekend.
Dense gray smoke blanketed the city of Vina del Mar on the country's central coast Saturday, forcing residents to flee.
Rosana Avendano, a 63-year-old kitchen assistant, was away from home when the fire began to sweep through the ... Read more ...
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Fish are shrinking around the world. Here’s why scientists are worried.:
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| Fish are shrinking around the world. Here’s why scientists are worried. - Washington Post - Climate and Environment |
May 4 · Figuring out the reason why has big implications, with billions of people depending on seafood for protein.
There’s something fishy going on in the water. Across Earth’s oceans, fish are shrinking - and no one can agree why.
It’s happening with salmon near the Arctic Circle and skate in the Atlantic. Nearly three-fourths of marine fish populations sampled worldwide have seen their average body size dwindle between 1960 and 2020, according to a recent analysis. Read more ...
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Flood-hit Kenya and Tanzania on alert as cyclone nears:
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| Flood-hit Kenya and Tanzania on alert as cyclone nears - PHYS.ORG - Earth |
May 3 · Kenya and Tanzania were on alert on Saturday for a cyclone heading towards their Indian Ocean coastlines, threatening to pile on more misery after deadly floods that have ravaged the region.
About 400 people have lost their lives in East Africa and tens of thousands have been uprooted from their homes in recent weeks as torrential rains triggered flooding and landslides engulfed houses, roads and bridges.
Kenyan President William Ruto on Friday described the weather outlook as "dire" and postponed the reopening of schools indefinitely as the nation braced for its first-ever cyclone.
Tropical Cyclone Hidaya is projected to make landfall at the weekend on the Kenyan ... Read more ...
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Floods in southern Brazil kill 55, force 70,000 from homes:
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| Floods in southern Brazil kill 55, force 70,000 from homes - PHYS.ORG - Earth |
May 5 · Raging floods and mudslides have killed at least 55 people in southern Brazil and forced nearly 70,000 to flee their homes, the country's civil defense agency said on Saturday.
At least 74 people were injured and another 67 missing from the catastrophic flooding, civil defense said.
The toll did not include two people who died in an explosion at a flooded gas station in Porto Alegre, witnessed by an AFP journalist, where rescue crews were attempting to refuel.
Fast-rising water levels in the state of Rio Grande do Sul were straining dams and particularly threatening economically important Porto Alegre, a city of 1.4 million.
The Guaiba River, which flows ... Read more ...
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Heating cities with sand and water:
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| Heating cities with sand and water - Just Have A Think |
May 5 · The Green Energy Transition is starting to tease out some very smart solutions to ditching fossil fuels. Our friends in the North are leading the way in the decarbonisation of buildings and industry. Here's a couple of perfect examples.\n\nHelp support this channels independence at \nhttp://www.patreon.com/justhaveathink \n\nOr with a donation via Paypal by clicking here\nhttps://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick\u0026hosted_button_id=GWR73EHXGJMAE\u0026source=url \n\nYou can also help keep my brain ticking over during the long hours of research and editing via the nice folks at BuyMeACoffee.com \n\nhttps://www.buymeacoffee.com/justhaveathink\n\nVideo Transcripts available at ... | By Just Have a Think Read more ...
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Herb Simmens Presentation on Climate Vocabulary to Healthy Planet Action Coalition 2 May 2024:
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| Herb Simmens Presentation on Climate Vocabulary to Healthy Planet Action Coalition 2 May 2024 - Climate Engineering (Lockley - Playlist) |
May 3 · This discussion features the narrative story in Herb Simmens’ recent book A Climate Vocabulary of the Future. That segment of the book looks back from the year 2035. It describes how humanity began to achieve a healthy climate.\n\nHerb Simmens will present that narrative, and lead a discussion on the kinds of stories and language that can inform and excite people to embrace the HPAC vision for a healthy planet.\n\nHerb’s presentation and the subsequent discussion are particularly stimulating and timely, now that the HPAC Advocacy Task Force is beginning to explore what an effective and compelling narrative might be developed to advance our mission. | By Robbie Tulip Read more ...
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Hopes fade for production curbs in new global pact on plastic pollution:
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| Hopes fade for production curbs in new global pact on plastic pollution - Climate Change News - Energy |
May 3 · With no further talks scheduled on limiting plastic production before final negotiations in November, the treaty may focus instead on recycling
Negotiators discuss the text in Ottawa (Photo: Kiara Worth - IISD/ENB)
Hopes for a new global treaty to include limits on rocketing production of plastic worldwide have faded after government negotiators sidestepped the issue at UN talks in the Canadian capital of Ottawa earlier this week.
At the fourth – and penultimate – round of talks, negotiators did not agree to continue formal discussions on how to cut plastic production before a final session in the Korean city of Busan set for November, making it less ... | By Joe Lo Read more ...
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How evolving landscapes impacted First Peoples' early migration patterns into Australia:
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| How evolving landscapes impacted First Peoples' early migration patterns into Australia - PHYS.ORG - Earth |
May 4 · Using a dynamic model charting the changing landscape, researchers have provided a more realistic description of the of the areas inhabited by the first humans to traverse Sahul: the landmass combining what is now Australia, Tasmania and New Guinea.
Led by Associate Professor Tristan Salles from the School of Geosciences at the University of Sydney, the research model factors-in evolution of the landscape, driven by climate, during the time of human dispersal. This is a novel approach; previous studies of migration patterns have relied heavily on archaeological findings.
"One aspect overlooked when evaluating how people spread across the continent is the evolution of the ... Read more ...
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How the world wastes hundreds of billions of meals in a year, in three charts:
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| How the world wastes hundreds of billions of meals in a year, in three charts - VOX -Environment |
May 4 · Think twice before throwing out your leftovers.
A billion meals are wasted every single day, according to a recent report from the United Nations. And that’s a conservative estimate.
It’s not just food down the drain, but money, too. The 2024 UN Food Waste Index report - which measured food waste at the consumer and retail level across more than 100 countries - found that over a trillion dollars worth of food gets thrown out every year, from households to grocery stores to farms, all across the globe.
Such waste takes a significant toll on the environment. The process of producing food - the raising of animals, the land and water use, and the subsequent pollution ... Read more ...
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Ice Shelves Fracture Under Weight of Meltwater Lakes:
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| Ice Shelves Fracture Under Weight of Meltwater Lakes - Science Daily - Earth and Climate |
May 24 · When air temperatures in Antarctica rise and glacier ice melts, water can pool on the surface of floating ice shelves, weighing them down and causing the ice to bend. Now, for the first time in the field, CIRES-led research shows that ice shelves don't just buckle under the weight of meltwater lakes -- they fracture. As the climate warms and melt rates in Antarctica increase, this fracturing could cause vulnerable ice shelves to collapse, allowing inland glacier ice to spill into the ocean and contribute to sea level rise.
"Ice shelves are extremely important for the Antarctic Ice Sheet's overall health as they act to buttress or hold back the glacier ice on land," said Alison ... Read more ...
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Ice shelves fracture under weight of meltwater lakes, study shows:
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| Ice shelves fracture under weight of meltwater lakes, study shows - PHYS.ORG - Earth |
May 3 · As the climate warms and melt rates in Antarctica increase, this fracturing could cause vulnerable ice shelves to collapse, allowing inland glacier ice to spill into the ocean and contribute to sea level rise.
Ice shelves are important for the Antarctic Ice Sheet's overall health as they act to buttress or hold back the glacier ice on land. Scientists have predicted and modeled that surface meltwater loading could cause ice shelves to fracture, but no one had observed the process in the field, until now.
The new study, published in the Journal of Glaciology, may help explain how the Larsen B Ice Shelf abruptly collapsed in 2002. In the months before its catastrophic ... Read more ...
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Ikea is guiding its customers toward sustainable consumption. Here’s how:
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| Ikea is guiding its customers toward sustainable consumption. Here’s how - Greenbiz |
May 6 · The giant furniture retailer is using its procurement clout and in-store promotions to nudge millions of customers toward lower-emissions products.
Close to 860 million people visited Ikea stores last year, helping it generate more than $50 billion in sales. The world’s largest furniture retailer is using that exposure to drive a unique net-zero goal: a pledge to cut the climate footprint from products Ikea customers use at home by 70 percent by 2030.
So far, Ikea has managed a 52 percent reduction to the baseline it set in 2016, according to Ikea’s sustainability report for 2023.
The retailer calculates that claim by looking at the material composition and energy ... | By Heather Clancy Read more ...
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In photos: At least 39 dead as historic flooding hits southern Brazil:
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| In photos: At least 39 dead as historic flooding hits southern Brazil - Washington Post - Climate and Environment |
May 4 · Floods in southern Brazil killed at least 39 people as heavy rainfall brought historic amounts of water to the state of Rio Grande do Sul, according to local authorities. At least 68 others are missing.
In the state capital, Porto Alegre, water levels rose to 4.88 meters (16 feet) - the highest observed since 1941, according to the prefectural government. The state’s civil defense agency also reported that a dam at a hydropower plant in the Cotiporã municipality had partially collapsed. Water from the dam completely overwhelmed nearby cities, the Associated Press reported.
May 3 | Eldorado do Sul, Brazil
Floodwaters overtake the streets.
May 3 | Porto Alegre, ... Read more ...
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Inside Allbirds’ mission to make a shoe with no carbon footprint:
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| Inside Allbirds’ mission to make a shoe with no carbon footprint - Greenbiz |
May 3 · As of its most recent progress update, the shoemaker is more than halfway toward its goal to cut its per-product footprint in half by 2025.
Three years ago, Allbirds pledged to cut its per-product carbon footprint in half within four years, aiming for “near zero” status by 2030. As of its most recent progress update, the shoemaker is more than halfway there, thanks to an approach that requires every employee and business partner to consider emissions - from design to materials to packaging.
Allbirds is also one of the few public companies that regularly highlights greenhouse gas emissions in its earnings report. And it calculates carbon labels for its products, even amid ... | By Heather Clancy Read more ...
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Lake tsunamis pose significant threat under warming climate:
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| Lake tsunamis pose significant threat under warming climate - PHYS.ORG - Earth |
May 3 · Triggered by landslides into small bodies of water, most of these tsunamis have occurred in remote locations so far, but geologist Bretwood Higman of Ground Truth Alaska said it may just be a matter of time before a tsunami swamps a more populated place like Portage Lake near Whittier, Alaska.
When he estimates where the risk of an Alaskan lake tsunami is highest, Portage Lake "is pretty much at the top of my list," Higman said.
Other sites in Alaska where the risks of lake tsunamis coincide with human activity and infrastructure include Eklutna, Seward, Valdez, Juneau, Grewingk Lake in Kachemak Bay State Park and Index Lake near Glacier View.
At the Seismological ... Read more ...
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Loss and damage board speeds up work to allow countries direct access to funds:
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| Loss and damage board speeds up work to allow countries direct access to funds - Climate Change News - Finance |
May 3 · At its first meeting, the fund’s board decided to fast-track the selection of its host country so money can be disbursed as fast as possible to disaster-hit people
The first board meeting was held in the UAE, where extreme rainfall caused widespread flooding last month. REUTERS/Amr Alfiky
The board of the loss and damage fund is set to pick its host nation in July as it speeds up the process to ensure hard-hit countries can directly access money to help them recover from the unavoidable effects of climate change.
As the 26-member board held its first three-day meeting in Abu Dhabi this week, discussions centered on the administrative steps needed to get the ... | By Matteo Civillini Read more ...
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Market-based schemes not reducing deforestation, poverty: Report:
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| Market-based schemes not reducing deforestation, poverty: Report - PHYS.ORG - Earth |
May 6 · Market-based approaches to forest conservation like carbon offsets and deforestation-free certification schemes have largely failed to protect trees or alleviate poverty, according to a major scientific review published on Monday.
The global study - the most comprehensive of its kind to date - found that trade and finance-driven initiatives had made "limited" progress halting deforestation and in some cases worsened economic inequality.
Drawn from years of academic and field work, the report compiled by the International Union of Forest Research Organizations (IUFRO), a group of 15,000 scientists in 120 countries, will be presented at a high-level UN forum starting ... Read more ...
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NASA is helping protect tigers, jaguars, and elephants - here's how:
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| NASA is helping protect tigers, jaguars, and elephants - here's how - PHYS.ORG - Biology |
May 3 · "Satellites observe vast areas of Earth's surface on daily to weekly schedules," said Keith Gaddis, ecological conservation program manager at NASA Headquarters in Washington. "That helps scientists monitor habitats that would be logistically challenging and time-consuming to survey from the ground—crucial for animals like tigers that roam large territories."
Here's how NASA and its partners help protect three of Earth's most iconic species:
Trouble (and hope) for tigers
Tigers have lost at least 93% of their historical range, which once spanned Eurasia. Roughly 3,700 to 5,500 wild tigers remain, up from an estimated low of 3,200 in 2010.
In a recent ... Read more ...
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Nepal court orders limit on Everest climbing permits:
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| Nepal court orders limit on Everest climbing permits - PHYS.ORG - Earth |
May 3 · Nepal's Supreme Court has ordered the government to limit the number of mountaineering permits issued for Everest and other peaks, a lawyer confirmed Friday, just as expeditions prepare for the spring climbing season.
The Himalayan republic is home to eight of the world's 10 highest peaks and welcomes hundreds of adventurers each spring, when temperatures are warm and winds are typically calm.
The verdict was issued in late April but a summary was only published this week.
Lawyer Deepak Bikram Mishra, who had filed a petition urging permits to be curtailed, told AFP that the court had responded to public concerns about Nepal's mountains and its ... Read more ...
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New Computer Algorithm Supercharges Climate Models and Could Lead to Better Predictions of Future Climate Change:
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| New Computer Algorithm Supercharges Climate Models and Could Lead to Better Predictions of Future Climate Change - Science Daily - Earth and Climate |
May 24 · Earth System Models -- complex computer models which describe Earth processes and how they interact -- are critical for predicting future climate change. By simulating the response of our land, oceans and atmosphere to manmade greenhouse gas emissions, these models form the foundation for predictions of future extreme weather and climate event scenarios, including those issued by the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
However, climate modellers have long faced a major problem. Because Earth System Models integrate many complicated processes, they cannot immediately run a simulation; they must first ensure that it has reached a stable equilibrium ... Read more ...
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New Nevada experiments aim to improve monitoring of nuclear explosions:
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| New Nevada experiments aim to improve monitoring of nuclear explosions - PHYS.ORG - Earth |
May 3 · Physics Experiment 1-A (PE1-A) is the first in a series of non-nuclear experiments that will compare computer simulations with high-resolution seismic, tracer gas, acoustic and electromagnetic data gleaned from underground explosions and atmospheric experiments, said Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory researcher Stephen Myers at the Seismological Society of America (SSA)'s 2024 Annual Meeting.
The 18 October explosion—the equivalent of 16.3 tons of TNT—took place in Aqueduct Mesa "P Tunnel" at the Nevada National Security Site (NNSS). Seismic, acoustic and electromagnetic waves from the shock were recorded by instruments near the explosion and with regional ... Read more ...
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New research investigates how climate change amplifies severity of combined wind-rain extremes over the UK and Ireland:
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| New research investigates how climate change amplifies severity of combined wind-rain extremes over the UK and Ireland - PHYS.ORG - Earth |
May 3 · The new study was led by experts at Newcastle University and the Met Office and investigated how future climate change may influence compound wind-rain extremes, which are events where extreme wind and rainfall occur simultaneously.
These changes are mainly driven by increased rainfall, a thermodynamic response to rising temperatures. Additional contributing factors include a strengthened jet stream and its southward displacement that brings storms through warmer areas leading to further increases in rainfall.
Publishing their findings in the journal Weather and Climate Extremes, the scientists show that the increase in intensity could lead to more frequent windstorms ... Read more ...
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NOAA reports continued drop in overfishing:
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| NOAA reports continued drop in overfishing - PHYS.ORG - Biology |
May 3 · Maintaining sustainable fisheries contributes significantly to the U.S. economy, provides important recreational opportunities and helps meet the growing challenge of increasing our nation's seafood supply.
In 2023, U.S. fisheries data revealed that 94% of stocks are not subject to overfishing and 82% are not overfished. These numbers show slight improvements compared to the 2022 figures of 93% and 81%, respectively.
Ongoing positive trends continued with the number of stocks on the overfishing list decreasing by three stocks, reaching an all-time low of 21 stocks, and the number of stocks on the overfished list decreasing by one stock, to 47. Since 2000, NOAA Fisheries ... Read more ...
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Path to Easier Recycling of Solar Modules:
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| Path to Easier Recycling of Solar Modules - Science Daily - Earth and Climate |
May 24 · The use of femtosecond lasers to form glass-to-glass welds for solar modules would make the panels easier to recycle, according to a proof-of-concept study conducted by researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL).
The welds would eliminate the need for plastic polymer sheets that are now laminated into solar modules but make recycling more difficult. At the end of their useful lifespan, the modules made with the laser welds can be shattered. The glass and metal wires running through the solar cells can be easily recycled and the silicon can be reused.
"Most recyclers will confirm that the polymers are the main issue in terms ... Read more ...
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Plants Utilize Drought Stress Hormone to Block Snacking Spider Mites:
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| Plants Utilize Drought Stress Hormone to Block Snacking Spider Mites - Science Daily - Earth and Climate |
May 24 · Recent findings that plants employ a drought-survival mechanism to also defend against nutrient-sucking pests could inform future crop breeding programmes aimed at achieving better broadscale pest control.
Using an advanced fluorescent biosensor (ABACUS2) that can detect tiny changes in plant hormone concentrations at the cellular scale, scientists saw that abscisic acid (ABA), usually linked with drought response, started closing the plant's entry gates within 5 hours of being infested with spider mites.
Microscopic leaf pores (stomata) are important for gas exchange but are also the major sites for water loss. When there is a water shortage, plants act to conserve ... Read more ...
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Radio astronomers bypass disturbing Earth's atmosphere with new calibration technique:
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| Radio astronomers bypass disturbing Earth's atmosphere with new calibration technique - PHYS.ORG - Earth |
May 6 · The technique allowed astronomers to take clear radio images of the universe at frequencies between 16 and 30 MHz for the first time. This was thought to be impossible, because the ionosphere, at about 80 kilometers above the Earth, interferes with observations at these frequencies.
Thanks to the new images, it appears that the radio emission from these clusters is not evenly distributed across the entire cluster, but rather there is a spot pattern. "It's like putting on a pair of glasses for the first time and no longer seeing blurred," said research leader Christian Groeneveld of Leiden University.
The motivation for the research was that at high frequencies, around ... Read more ...
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Research discovers plants utilize drought stress hormone to block snacking spider mites:
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| Research discovers plants utilize drought stress hormone to block snacking spider mites - PHYS.ORG - Earth |
May 3 · Using an advanced fluorescent biosensor (ABACUS2) that can detect tiny changes in plant hormone concentrations at the cellular scale, scientists saw that abscisic acid (ABA), usually linked with drought response, started closing the plant's entry gates within 5 hours of being infested with spider mites.
Microscopic leaf pores (stomata) are important for gas exchange but are also the major sites for water loss. When there is a water shortage, plants act to conserve water by producing the drought stress hormone ABA to close their stomata.
Coincidentally, the closure of stomata also obstructs the preferred entry points for nutrient-sucking pests like spider mites. The ... Read more ...
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Researcher: Climate models can run for months on supercomputers - but my new algorithm can make them ten times faster:
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| Researcher: Climate models can run for months on supercomputers - but my new algorithm can make them ten times faster - PHYS.ORG - Earth |
May 4 · Not surprisingly, these models are expensive. The simulations take time, frequently several months, and the supercomputers on which the models are run consume a lot of energy. But a new algorithm I have developed promises to make many of these climate model simulations ten times faster, and could ultimately be an important tool in the fight against climate change.
One reason climate modeling takes so long is that some of the processes being simulated are intrinsically slow. The ocean is a good example. It takes a few thousand years for water to circulate from the surface to the deep ocean and back (by contrast, the atmosphere has a "mixing time" of weeks).
Ever since the ... Read more ...
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Researchers create massive open dataset to advance AI solutions for carbon capture:
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| Researchers create massive open dataset to advance AI solutions for carbon capture - PHYS.ORG - Technology |
May 2 · But there's a big challenge. For direct air capture technology, every type of environment and location requires a uniquely specific design. A direct air capture configuration in Texas, for example, would necessarily be different from one in Iceland. These systems must be designed with exact parameters for humidity, temperature, and air flows for each place.
Now, Georgia Tech and Meta have collaborated to produce a massive database, potentially making it easier and faster to design and implement direct air capture technologies. The open-source database enabled the team to train an AI model that is orders of magnitude faster than existing chemistry simulations. The project, ... Read more ...
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Rising mercury levels may contribute to declining Steller sea lion populations:
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| Rising mercury levels may contribute to declining Steller sea lion populations - PHYS.ORG - Earth |
May 3 · The team's decade-long effort to study mercury in Steller sea lions in the Aleutian Islands—the strip of islands stretching between Russia and Alaska and separating the Bering Sea and Pacific Ocean—has revealed that the number of pups born with potentially dangerous levels of mercury in their blood and fur increased by more than 50% from 2011 to 2018 before leveling off in 2019.
Mercury—a "heavy metal," non-essential element—can be toxic to some animals, including humans, at high concentrations. Various forms of mercury can be introduced into the environment via emissions from human activities; it can also be introduced naturally through seismic ... Read more ...
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Robots Invited to Help Make Wind Turbine Blades:
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| Robots Invited to Help Make Wind Turbine Blades - Science Daily - Earth and Climate |
May 24 · Although robots have been used by the wind energy industry to paint and polish blades, automation has not been widely adopted. Research at the laboratory demonstrates the ability of a robot to trim, grind, and sand blades. Those necessary steps occur after the two sides of the blade are made using a mold and then bonded together.
"I would consider it a success," said Hunter Huth, a robotics engineer at NREL and lead author of a newly published paper detailing the work. "Not everything operated as well as we wanted it to, but we learned all the lessons we think we need to make it meet or exceed our expectations."
The paper, "Toolpath Generation for Automated Wind Turbine ... Read more ...
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Scientists show how to treat burns with an environmentally friendly plant-based bandage:
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| Scientists show how to treat burns with an environmentally friendly plant-based bandage - PHYS.ORG - Earth |
May 3 · Following a burn, the affected area typically undergoes redness and swelling as a result of inflammation, the body's natural defense mechanism. Yet, excessive inflammation can counterproductively trigger the generation of oxygen free radicals, impeding the healing process.
Addressing this concern, researchers at IIT have devised a biocompatible bandage capable of blocking an excessive increase in the level of inflammation and reducing the number of free radicals, thus shortening the time needed for healing. Furthermore, the bandage naturally degrades within a few days, mitigating concerns about additional waste generation.
The bandage is made from a new biodegradable ... Read more ...
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Seismic shifts are underway to find finance for loss and damage:
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| Seismic shifts are underway to find finance for loss and damage - Climate Change News - Finance |
May 3 · Comment: The new UN fund can channel taxes and other innovative ways of raising money to pay for climate loss and damage – we just have to decide to apply them
Residents sift through the rubble as they recover their belongings after the Nairobi river burst its banks and destroyed their homes within the Mathare Valley settlement in Nairobi, Kenya, April 25, 2024. (Photo: REUTERS/Monicah Mwangi)
Avinash Persaud is Special Advisor to the President of the Inter-American Development Bank on Climate Change. Previously he was a member of the negotiation committee to establish the Loss and Damage Fund and an architect of the original ‘Bridgetown Initiative’ on ... | By Avinash Persaud Read more ...
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Seismic waves used to track LA's groundwater recharge after record wet winter:
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| Seismic waves used to track LA's groundwater recharge after record wet winter - PHYS.ORG - Earth |
May 4 · Shujuan Mao of Stanford University and her colleagues used a surprising technique to answer this question for the greater Los Angeles metropolitan area. They analyzed changes in the velocity of seismic waves traveling through the LA basin, tracking these changes in space and time between January and October 2023.
As Mao reported at the Seismological Society of America (SSA)'s 2024 Annual Meeting, their study found that groundwater levels almost completely recovered at very shallow depths—about 50 meters below the surface. However, only about 25% of the groundwater lost over the past two decades was replenished at about 300 meters and deeper, likely because it is more ... Read more ...
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Sister Cities Can Help Communities Better Navigate the Climate Crisis:
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| Sister Cities Can Help Communities Better Navigate the Climate Crisis - Science Daily - Earth and Climate |
May 24 · Anthropologists at Rice University suggest in a new study that establishing networks of 'sister cities' dedicated to addressing the impact of natural disasters can mitigate the devastation wrought by climate change.
Historically, these relationships have centered on social and political factors like trade relationships, diplomacy and more. But Howe and Boyer believe they can be powerful tools to aid in dealing with the physical effects of climate change, especially as cities deal with things like wildfires, extreme storms and more. As a result, they recommend forming a network called "Sister Cities for the Anthropocene" to help track and raise awareness of the spread of ... Read more ...
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Sister cities can help communities better navigate the climate crisis, research suggests:
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| Sister cities can help communities better navigate the climate crisis, research suggests - PHYS.ORG - Earth |
May 3 · Anthropologists at Rice University suggest in a new study that establishing networks of 'sister cities' dedicated to addressing the impact of natural disasters can mitigate the devastation wrought by climate change.
Historically, these relationships have centered on social and political factors like trade relationships, diplomacy and more. But Howe and Boyer believe they can be powerful tools to aid in dealing with the physical effects of climate change, especially as cities deal with things like wildfires, extreme storms and more. As a result, they recommend forming a network called "Sister Cities for the Anthropocene" to help track and raise awareness of the spread of ... Read more ...
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Startup mimics nature to produce zero-carbon cement:
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| Startup mimics nature to produce zero-carbon cement - Yale Climate Connections - Ecosystems |
May 3 · Stay in the know about climate impacts and solutions. Subscribe to our weekly newsletter.
Yale Climate Connections
One day you may walk down a sidewalk made from algae. A startup called Prometheus Materials is working to make that a reality to reduce the climate impact of concrete.
Concrete is made from cement. And the traditional process used to make that cement causes about 8% of global carbon emissions.
Loren Burnett of Prometheus says making cement from algae does not emit any carbon pollution.
Burnett: “We don’t mine heavy limestone. We’re not using fossil fuels to transport that heavy limestone to a cement plant. We’re not using ... Read more ...
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Stony coral tissue loss disease is shifting the ecological balance of Caribbean reefs:
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| Stony coral tissue loss disease is shifting the ecological balance of Caribbean reefs - PHYS.ORG - Earth |
May 3 · The outbreak of a deadly disease called stony coral tissue loss disease is destroying susceptible species of coral in the Caribbean while helping other, "weedier" organisms thrive—at least for now—according to a new study published in Science Advances.
"Some fast-growing organisms, like algae, might thrive in the short term," said the study's lead author, Sara Swaminathan, an environmental engineering sciences Ph.D. candidate at the University of Florida. "But the loss of the susceptible corals could have long-lasting repercussions."
Stony coral tissue loss disease, or SCTLD, was first reported off the coast of Miami in 2014 and has since moved throughout the ... Read more ...
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Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease Is Shifting the Ecological Balance of Caribbean Reefs:
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| Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease Is Shifting the Ecological Balance of Caribbean Reefs - Science Daily - Earth and Climate |
May 24 · The outbreak of a deadly disease called stony coral tissue loss disease is destroying susceptible species of coral in the Caribbean while helping other, "weedier" organisms thrive -- at least for now -- according to a new study published today in Science Advances.
"Some fast-growing organisms, like algae, might thrive in the short term," said the study's lead author, Sara Swaminathan, an environmental engineering sciences Ph.D. candidate at the University of Florida. "But the loss of the susceptible corals could have long-lasting repercussions."
Stony coral tissue loss disease, or SCTLD, was first reported off the coast of Miami in 2014 and has since moved throughout the ... Read more ...
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Tailwinds build for sustainable aviation fuel:
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| Tailwinds build for sustainable aviation fuel - Greenbiz |
May 6 · As the aviation industry lobbies for sustainable jet fuel, new tax breaks could help lower the carbon footprint of business travel.
Illustration of a jet's shadow over a field sunflowers. Credit: Shutterstock/Scharfsinn
U.S. airlines use sustainable fuel in less than 0.1 percent of flights. Yet the government wants 10 percent of the industry to run on sustainable fuel by 2030, and to reach 100 percent by 2050.
The scale of the challenge is massive: United Airlines used 7 million gallons of sustainable fuel last year, according to company spokesman Sam Coleman. "That was a threefold increase from the year before, which is great, except that United Airlines burns ... | By Elsa Wenzel Read more ...
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Tesla Pullback Puts Onus on Others to Build Electric Vehicle Chargers:
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| Tesla Pullback Puts Onus on Others to Build Electric Vehicle Chargers - New York Times - Climate Section |
May 4 · The automaker led by Elon Musk is no longer planning to take the lead in expanding the number of places to fuel electric vehicles. It’s not clear how quickly other companies will fill the gap.
Elon Musk, the chief executive of Tesla, blindsided competitors, suppliers and his own employees this week by reversing course on his aggressive push to build electric vehicle chargers in the United States, a major priority of the Biden administration.
Mr. Musk’s decision to lay off the 500-member team responsible for installing charging stations, and to sharply slow investment in new stations, baffled the industry and raised doubts about whether the number of public chargers would ... | By Jack Ewing and Ivan Penn Read more ...
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Tesla retreat from EV charging leaves growth of U.S. network in doubt:
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| Tesla retreat from EV charging leaves growth of U.S. network in doubt - Washington Post - Climate and Environment |
May 3 · Sudden layoffs this week left Tesla construction vendors uncertain whether to carry on with the charging projects they were building.
Tesla’s abrupt decision to lay off its electric-vehicle charging team and reduce its investments in public charging is a blow to the U.S. network, which has long relied on Elon Musk to build the bulk of the country’s fast chargers.
The sudden layoffs this week left Tesla construction vendors uncertain whether to carry on with the charging projects they were building, though one vendor said the company has since confirmed that existing projects should continue. Read more ...
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The benefits of crown-of-thorns starfish control on the Great Barrier Reef:
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| The benefits of crown-of-thorns starfish control on the Great Barrier Reef - PHYS.ORG - Biology |
May 4 · The study led by the Reef Authority in collaboration with research and delivery partners demonstrated up to a six-fold reduction in starfish numbers and a 44% increase in coral cover across regions that received timely and sufficient control effort. The research is published in the journal PLOS ONE.
While crown-of-thorns starfish are native to the Reef, outbreaks can cause broadscale coral loss and reef degradation, which are another pressure on top of culminative impacts like coral bleaching and cyclones, further impacting on reef health.
Reef Authority Chief Scientist Dr. Roger Beeden said this long-term data demonstrated that suppressing outbreaks of the coral-eating ... Read more ...
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The great corporate decarbonization derby is on:
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| The great corporate decarbonization derby is on - Greenbiz |
May 6 · Are any technologies capable of solving the climate crisis at scale?
To tackle big risks requires big imagination and big bucks. And, except for annihilation from global thermonuclear warfare, no set of risks loom larger than the continuing atmospheric buildup of greenhouse gases, chiefly carbon dioxide. Earth is responding to this buildup through rising temperatures, melting glaciers, expanding seas, migrating species and disease vectors and a host of other impacts. Scientists and policymakers believe that the Paris accord goal of restraining warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) by 2030 is or soon will be surpassed and that temperature increases of up to 7F ... | By Terry F. Yosie Read more ...
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Tidal energy is coming to Alaska. But how much?:
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| Tidal energy is coming to Alaska. But how much? - PHYS.ORG - Technology |
May 3 · But Alaska's Governor, Mike Dunleavy, wants to change that.
"Despite Alaska's position as a leading producer of energy, the cost of energy in Alaska, especially in our rural communities, is extremely high," he said in a 2023 press release.
Dunleavy wants 80% of the Railbelt's electricity to come from renewable energy sources by 2040—not just to achieve the state's clean energy goals but also to lower its higher-than-average energy costs. Switching to renewables, including hydroelectric, wind, solar, geothermal, and tidal power, could reduce how much the state spends on electricity generation by about $100 million per year (starting around 2030).
Cumulatively, ... Read more ...
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Uncovering the reasons behind the rapid warming of the North Pole:
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| Uncovering the reasons behind the rapid warming of the North Pole - PHYS.ORG - Earth |
May 3 · The North Pole region heats up faster than the rest of the world. Though this is a known fact, climate models underestimate the speed with which the region warms up. Sjoert Barten obtained his PhD on this subject at Wageningen University & Research on 26 April and shares his insights.
"We lack a proper understanding of the precise dynamics of climate warming on the North Pole. When, and by how much, are temperatures going to increase? Our lack of insight makes it hard to predict the consequences, such as the melting of marine ice," Barten explains.
However, new data obtained by a research vessel that traveled the Arctic Ocean and was stuck in the sea ice for a prolonged ... Read more ...
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Vietnam temperature records tumble as heat wave scorches:
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| Vietnam temperature records tumble as heat wave scorches - PHYS.ORG - Earth |
May 4 · More than 100 temperature records fell across Vietnam in April, according to official data, as a deadly heat wave scorches South and Southeast Asia.
Extreme heat has blasted Asia from India to the Philippines in recent weeks, triggering heatstroke deaths, school closures and desperate prayers for cooling rain.
Scientists have long warned that human-induced climate change will produce more frequent, longer and intense heat waves.
Vietnam saw three waves of high temperatures in April, according to data published Friday by the National Centre for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting, with the mercury peaking at 44 degrees Celsius (111.2 Fahrenheit) in two towns earlier ... Read more ...
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Why India is key to heading off climate catastrophe:
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| Why India is key to heading off climate catastrophe - Skeptical Science |
May 6 · A farmworker cleans the solar panels of a solar water pump in the village of Jagadhri, Haryana Country, India. (Photo credit: Prashanth Vishwanathan/ IWMI)
Decisions made in India over the next few years will play a key role in global efforts to head off the most catastrophic effects of climate change.
The country has one of the world’s fastest-growing economies, and its energy consumption is growing rapidly as a result — but it still relies largely on fossil fuels. India has a general election that will wrap up in June 2024, and both major parties say they support moving the country away from fossil fuels as quickly as possible, a position backed by a ... Read more ...
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| Why India is key to heading off climate catastrophe - Yale Climate Connections - Policy |
May 3 · Stay in the know about climate impacts and solutions. Subscribe to our weekly newsletter.
Yale Climate Connections
Decisions made in India over the next few years will play a key role in global efforts to head off the most catastrophic effects of climate change.
The country has one of the world’s fastest-growing economies, and its energy consumption is growing rapidly as a result - but it still relies largely on fossil fuels. India has a general election that will wrap up in June 2024, and both major parties say they support moving the country away from fossil fuels as quickly as possible, a position backed by a sizable majority of citizens.
Global ... Read more ...
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Why only 22 EV models now qualify for the $7,500 federal tax credit:
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| Why only 22 EV models now qualify for the $7,500 federal tax credit - Washington Post - Climate and Environment |
May 3 · Electric vehicles made with Chinese materials will be ineligible for the tax credit under a final rule the Treasury Department released Friday.
Americans buying electric vehicles will no longer be able to claim federal tax credits of up to $7,500 if their cars contain Chinese materials, the Biden administration announced Friday, the result of a landmark 2022 climate law that sought to reduce U.S. reliance on clean-energy components from China.
The final rule from the Treasury Department codifies a draft rule from December that sharply limited the number of EVs that qualify for the credit. Only 22 of the more than 110 EV models on sale in the United States are eligible ... Read more ...
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Why some corals are better off dead:
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| Why some corals are better off dead - Washington Post - Climate and Environment |
May 5 · As scientists rush to save ailing corals elsewhere, in Venezuela locals are trying to kill off this stinky variety.
VALLE SECO, Venezuela - Estrella Villamizar grabbed the soft red and white coral by its stem and hacked it off with a blow of her wooden knife before tossing it in a bucket with other pieces she’d already ripped out of the Caribbean waters lapping against this deserted beach.
On the sea bed, stretching for a distance as far as the eye could see, a blanket of the dark coral swayed in the warm current. Read more ...
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Wildfires in Wet African Forests Have Doubled in Recent Decades:
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| Wildfires in Wet African Forests Have Doubled in Recent Decades - Science Daily - Earth and Climate |
May 24 · A new study presents the first large-scale analysis of fire patterns in west and central Africa's wet, tropical forests. The number of active fires there typically doubled over 18 years, particularly in the Congo Basin. The increases are primarily due to increasingly hot, dry conditions and humans' impact on the forests, including deforestation. The increase in forest fires is likely to continue given current climate projections, according to the study.
With fires increasing in other historically wet forests, such as the U.S. Pacific Northwest and the Amazon, wet forest fires can no longer be ignored, the researchers say.
Scientists have known for decades that wet ... Read more ...
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Will a Global Plastics Treaty Effectively Curb Plastic Pollution?:
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| Will a Global Plastics Treaty Effectively Curb Plastic Pollution? - Sustainable Brands |
May 3 · Not at this rate: In one corner, industry bodies and petrochemical companies call for enhanced recycling and the increased use of materials with recycled content. In the other, climate campaigners continue to push for cuts in production - an argument that won’t be resolved anytime soon.
All eyes were on Ottawa this week as national environmental negotiators descended on the Canadian city for the latest round of talks on UN Global Plastics Treaty - a crucial agreement that if ratified could seriously reduce virgin plastics production, enhance waste management, and get rid of the materials that pose the most risk to the environment and public health globally.
So, what ... Read more ...
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World Champion Sasha DiGiulian Talks Climate Advocacy & Equality in Sports | United Nations:
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| World Champion Sasha DiGiulian Talks Climate Advocacy & Equality in Sports | United Nations - Climate Change (United Nations - Playlist) |
May 5 · World Champion rock climber and Protect Our Winters (POW) Athletes Alliance member Sasha DiGiulian takes time from training to talk about her personal experiences with climate change that lead to her advocacy work.\n\nSasha DiGiulian joined other elite athletes and leaders in the sport industry to participate in the United Nations celebration of the International Day of Sport for Development and Peace (IDSDP) and share insights into how athletes can make an impact on climate action, promote sustainability and gender equality, and foster industry partnerships. \n\nWatch the whole #SportDay event: www.youtube.com/watch?v=cPlxx7p7zm4\u0026amp;t=6584s | By United Nations Read more ...
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