'Discomfort May Increase’: Asia’s Heat Wave Scorches Hundreds of Millions:
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| 'Discomfort May Increase’: Asia’s Heat Wave Scorches Hundreds of Millions - New York Times - Climate Section |
Apr 22 · April is typically hot in South and Southeast Asia, but temperatures this month have been unusually high.
Saif Hasnat reported from Dhaka, Bangladesh, and Mike Ives from Seoul.
Hundreds of millions of people in South and Southeast Asia were suffering on Monday from a punishing heat wave that has forced schools to close, disrupted agriculture, and raised the risk of heat strokes and other health complications.
The weather across the region in April is generally hot, and comes before Asia’s annual summer monsoon, which dumps rain on parched soil. But this April’s temperatures have so far been unusually high.
In Bangladesh, where schools and universities are ... | By Saif Hasnat and Mike Ives Read more ...
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100% wind and solar is coming!:
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| 100% wind and solar is coming! - Just Have A Think |
Apr 21 · 100% electrification from renewables like wind, solar, geothermal and hydro power, backed up with interconnections and energy storage is now just around the corner, and already the cheapest option available. But there are still bumps in the road. Can we overcome them in time?
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You can also help keep my brain ticking over during the long hours of research and editing via the nice folks at BuyMeACoffee.com ... | By Just Have a Think Read more ...
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12 new books to honor Earth Day:
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| 12 new books to honor Earth Day - Yale Climate Connections - Arts |
Apr 12 · Stay in the know about climate impacts and solutions. Subscribe to our weekly newsletter.
Yale Climate Connections
In the more than 50 years since it was first celebrated on April 22, 1970, Earth Day has become Earth Month, a longer time to take a wider view of our connections with nature.
For Earth Month 2024, Yale Climate Connections offers a bookshelf that links climate change with the broader goals of preserving biodiversity and cultivating healthy ecosystems.
The first book, “Gaia’s Web,” maps the broader terrain for the more focused books that follow. We need an “environmentalism [that] can combat climate change, restore biodiversity, cultivate empathy, ... Read more ...
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2024 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #16:
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| 2024 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #16 - Skeptical Science |
Apr 21 · Our story of the week hinges on these words from the abstract of a fresh academic publication:
Here we use recent empirical findings from more than 1,600 regions worldwide over the past 40 years to project sub-national damages from temperature and precipitation, including daily variability and extremes7,8. Using an empirical approach that provides a robust lower bound on the persistence of impacts on economic growth, we find that the world economy is committed to an income reduction of 19% within the next 26 years independent of future emission choices (relative to a baseline without climate impacts, likely range of 11–29% accounting for physical climate ... Read more ...
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A comprehensive monitoring and evaluation of disaster risk due to linkage of residual coal pillars and rock strata:
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| A comprehensive monitoring and evaluation of disaster risk due to linkage of residual coal pillars and rock strata - PHYS.ORG - Earth |
Apr 22 · In extreme cases, such instability can trigger disasters like mine earthquakes and widespread collapse of goaf areas, potentially leading to casualties. Therefore, it is necessary to carry out monitoring and evaluation research on the risk of instability and disaster caused by the linkage of residual coal pillars and rock strata.
The challenge of instability linkage between residual coal pillars and rock strata is complex, as it not only involves the interaction between these pillars and strata but also engenders a cascade of linkage disasters. Present research efforts mostly lack a holistic assessment of the instability and disaster risks arising from the interaction between ... Read more ...
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A flexible and efficient DC power converter for sustainable-energy microgrids:
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| A flexible and efficient DC power converter for sustainable-energy microgrids - PHYS.ORG - Technology |
Apr 19 · Electric power comes in two kinds, AC (alternating current) and DC (direct current). Famously, the question over which kind should be used for national power grids, the "Current War" of the late 19th century, got settled in favor of AC and most power plants today produce this kind. However, solar power, batteries and in particular those in electric vehicles, and computers all depend on DC, making lossy AC-to-DC conversion necessary.
An alternative to this is the establishment of DC microgrids that integrate various renewable DC energy sources and storage devices and deliver energy directly to data centers and other DC appliances. This eliminates the need for AC-to-DC ... Read more ...
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AI weather forecasts can capture destructive path of major storms, new study shows:
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| AI weather forecasts can capture destructive path of major storms, new study shows - PHYS.ORG - Earth |
Apr 22 · Professor Andrew Charlton-Perez, who led the study, said, "AI is transforming weather forecasting before our eyes. Two years ago, modern machine learning techniques were rarely being applied to make weather forecasts. Now we have multiple models that can produce 10-day global forecasts in minutes.
"There is a great deal we can learn about AI weather forecasts by stress-testing them on extreme events like Storm Ciarán. We can identify their strengths and weaknesses and guide the development of even better AI forecasting technology to help protect people and property. This is an exciting and important time for weather forecasting."
Promise and pitfalls
To ... Read more ...
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Amazon sold a chemical that led to 15 deaths: Who is responsible?:
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| Amazon sold a chemical that led to 15 deaths: Who is responsible? - PHYS.ORG - Technology |
Apr 22 · In December 2020, 15-year-old Tyler Schmidt took a deadly chemical to a wooded area near his home in Camas, Clark County, Washington.
His body was found two days later. The chemical was determined to be his cause of death.
That year, four more individuals died the same way. In 2021 and 2022, 10 more died after ingesting the same chemical.
All 15 individuals purchased the chemical - a substance that can be used as a food preservative or in medical lab settings in a low purity form - from Amazon. It was sold there with 99% purity.
The families of those 15 people have sued Amazon in six separate cases since 2022 - including one filed last month - alleging the ... Read more ...
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An Earth Day response from Al Sharpton:
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| An Earth Day response from Al Sharpton - Heated World |
Apr 22 · Last week, HEATED reported that Al Sharpton used his annual National Action Network (NAN) civil rights convention to spread fossil fuel industry propaganda to Black communities.
HEATED reported that Sharpton personally introduced a panel titled “Affordable energy is a civil rights issue,” during which four paid gas industry spokespeople falsely told attendees that methane gas is a “clean” fuel; that a net-zero future is primarily being pushed by rich people; and that access to methane should be seen as a civil rights issue.Our article featured reaction from several climate justice activists - including former EPA environmental justice chief Mustafa Santiago Ali - who strongly ... Read more ...
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An ultralow-concentration electrolyte for lithium-ion batteries:
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| An ultralow-concentration electrolyte for lithium-ion batteries - PHYS.ORG - Technology |
Apr 22 · Lithium salts make batteries powerful but expensive. An ultralow-concentration electrolyte based on the lithium salt LiDFOB may be a more economical and more sustainable alternative. Cells using these electrolytes and conventional electrodes have been demonstrated to have high performance, as reported by a research team in the journal Angewandte Chemie International Edition. In addition, the electrolyte could facilitate both production and recycling of the batteries.
Lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) provide power to smartphones and tablets, drive electric vehicles, and store electricity at power plants. The main components of most LIBs are lithium cobalt oxide (LCO) cathodes, ... Read more ...
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Anticipating future risks of climate-driven wildfires in boreal forests:
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| Anticipating future risks of climate-driven wildfires in boreal forests - PHYS.ORG - Biology |
Apr 22 · Boreal forests often bring to mind snowy tundra, vast bogs, and diverse fauna such as reindeer or moose. However, it is increasingly home to a large number of wildfire occurrences. From the large fires in Sweden in 2014 and 2018, to the devastating fires in Siberia in 2021 and Canada in 2023, boreal forests are facing unprecedented levels of disturbance from wildfire events. These serve as a harbinger of what is to come in the upcoming decades, not just to the arctic north, but to forests around the globe.
In their study published in the journal Fire, Shelby Corning and her colleagues, all researchers in IIASA's Biodiversity and Natural Resources Program, utilized their ... Read more ...
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Argentinian scientists condemn budget cuts ahead of university protest:
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| Argentinian scientists condemn budget cuts ahead of university protest - Climate Change News - Science |
Apr 22 · Right-wing President Javier Milei has taken an axe to funding for education and scientific bodies, sparking fears for climate research
A medical student walks past a placard announcing the time left before the budget for the university runs out, at the entrance of the University of Buenos Aires Medical School, in the run-up to a national strike on April 23 against Argentina's President Javier Milei's policy of cuts in public education, in Buenos Aires, Argentina April 17, 2024 (Photo: REUTERS/Agustin Marcarian)
As a budget freeze for Argentina’s public universities amid soaring inflation leaves campuses unable to pay their electricity bills and climate science ... | By Julian Reingold Read more ...
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At a glance - The difference between weather and climate:
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| At a glance - The difference between weather and climate - Skeptical Science |
Apr 23 · On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a "bump" for our ask. This week features "The difference between weather and climate". More will follow in the upcoming weeks. Please follow the Further Reading link at the bottom to read the full rebuttal and to join the discussion in the comment thread there.
How do you go about weather forecasting by yourself? Study the computer models. With experience, you will become familiar with the ... Read more ...
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At least 63 killed following four days of rainstorms in Pakistan:
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| At least 63 killed following four days of rainstorms in Pakistan - Los Angeles Times |
Apr 17 · Lightning and heavy rains have led to 14 more deaths in Pakistan, officials said Wednesday, bringing the death toll from four days of extreme weather to at least 63, as the heaviest downpour in decades flooded villages on the country’s southwestern coast. Flash floods have also killed dozens of people in neighboring Afghanistan.
In Pakistan, most of the deaths were reported from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, in the country’s northwest. Collapsing buildings have killed 32 people, including 15 children and five women, said Khursheed Anwar, a spokesman for the Disaster Management Authority. Dozens more were also injured in the region, where 1,370 houses were damaged, Anwar ... Read more ...
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Backyards, urban parks support bird diversity in unique ways:
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| Backyards, urban parks support bird diversity in unique ways - PHYS.ORG - Biology |
Apr 22 · The new findings are reported in the journal Landscape and Urban Planning.
"These cities are right next to each other, they're touching each other, but they have very different histories," said Henry Pollock, who led the research at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign with Illinois natural resources and environmental sciences professor Carena van Riper and former U. of I. evolution, ecology, and behavior professor Mark Hauber. Pollock is now the executive director of the Southern Plains Land Trust in Lamar, Colorado, and Hauber is the executive director of the Advanced Science Research Center at the City University of New York.
"We wanted to understand how ... Read more ...
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Biden Earth Day Event Will Try to Reach Young Voters, a Crucial Bloc:
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| Biden Earth Day Event Will Try to Reach Young Voters, a Crucial Bloc - New York Times - Climate Section |
Apr 22 · At a national park in Virginia on Monday, the president will point to investments in clean energy and appear with future members of his American Climate Corps.
Reporting from Washington
President Biden will travel to a national park in Virginia on Monday, Earth Day, to spotlight his clean energy investments, with an eye on bolstering support among young voters disillusioned with their choices for the 2024 election.
Against the backdrop of the park, Prince William Forest, Mr. Biden will announce $7 billion in grants to fund solar power for hundreds of thousands of homes in primarily disadvantaged communities, according to the White House. He will be joined by future ... | By Zolan Kanno-Youngs and Brad Plumer Read more ...
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Biden marks Earth Day with $7bn 'solar for all’ investment amid week of climate action:
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| Biden marks Earth Day with $7bn 'solar for all’ investment amid week of climate action - Guardian - Energy |
Apr 2 · Funds will be targeted at disadvantaged areas to create 200,000 jobs, after last week’s oil and gas lease restrictions in Alaska
Joe Biden will mark Monday’s Earth Day by announcing a $7bn investment in solar energy projects nationwide, focusing on disadvantaged communities, and unveiling a week-long series of what the White House say will be “historic climate actions”.
The president is traveling to Virginia’s Prince William Forest Park to deliver a speech touting his environmental record, including measures to tackle the climate crisis and increase access to, and lower costs of, clean energy.
Today’s centerpiece is the announcement of $7bn in grants through the ... Read more ...
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California has so much solar power it’s throwing it away:
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| California has so much solar power it’s throwing it away - Washington Post - Climate and Environment |
Apr 22 · In sunny California, solar panels are everywhere. They sit in dry, desert landscapes in the Central Valley and are scattered over rooftops in Los Angeles’s urban center. By last count, the state had nearly 47 gigawatts of solar power installed - enough to power 13.9 million homes and provide over a quarter of the Golden State’s electricity.
But now, the state and its grid operator are grappling with a strange reality: There is so much solar on the grid that, on sunny spring days when there’s not as much demand, electricity prices go negative. Gigawatts of solar are “curtailed” - essentially, thrown away.
In response, California has cut back incentives for rooftop solar ... Read more ...
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Chinese province of Guangdong hit by historic floods:
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| Chinese province of Guangdong hit by historic floods - Washington Post - Climate and Environment |
Apr 22 · Heavy rains continued to batter southern China on Monday, forcing tens of thousands of people from their homes as rescuers raced to evacuate those trapped by flooding and locate at least 11 missing residents.
The historic levels of rain across Guangdong province have come earlier than the region’s usual flood season, between May and June, prompting concerns about the effects of climate change on the country.
Extreme weather events have become more frequent and severe in China, testing the top-down and increasingly centralized leadership under Xi Jinping that may be weakening local governments’ responses to such disasters.
The floods also threaten the country’s ... Read more ...
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Climate Action for Earth Day:
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| Climate Action for Earth Day - Legal Planet |
Apr 22 · Don’t believe what you’ve heard. There is one single thing you can give up that will help address climate change: voter apathy.
One-third of eligible voters - 80 million Americans - did not vote in the presidential election last time around. Why not? Because they just “weren’t registered” or they “weren’t interested in politics,” according to this Ipsos survey. It’s so much worse for local elections. Turnout in 10 of America’s largest cities was less than 15%, according to the Who Votes for Mayor project. In Dallas, just 6% voted in recent local elections.
Earth Day is a perfect day to register to vote and to make sure people in your life are registered - and fully aware ... Read more ...
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Climate change is disrupting our sense of home:
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| Climate change is disrupting our sense of home - VOX -Environment |
Apr 22 · Climate change is personal. It is not abstract. The warming climate impacts our economies, influences our politics and culture, threatens the food we eat and the water we drink; it even affects our love lives.
As climate change accelerates and extreme heat and climate disasters displace more people around the world, the crisis is increasingly disrupting our fundamental sense of where we belong and what we consider home.
We saw that last summer, in Maui, Hawaii, when the deadliest wildfire in the US in more than a century leveled the historic town of Lahaina, killed more than 100 people, and displaced thousands of residents from their homes.
In the immediate wake of ... Read more ...
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Climate Change Will Increase Value of Residential Rooftop Solar Panels Across US, Study Shows:
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| Climate Change Will Increase Value of Residential Rooftop Solar Panels Across US, Study Shows - Science Daily - Earth and Climate |
Apr 24 · Climate change will increase the future value of residential rooftop solar panels across the United States by up to 19% by the end of the century, according to a new University of Michigan-led study.
The study defines the value of solar, or VOS, as household-level financial benefits from electricity bill savings plus revenues from selling excess electricity to the grid -- minus the initial installation costs.
For many U.S. households, increased earnings from residential rooftop solar could total up to hundreds of dollars annually by the end of the century, say the authors of the study, which is scheduled for publication April 19 in the journal Nature Climate ... Read more ...
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Climate Doom Is Out. 'Apocalyptic Optimism’ Is In.:
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| Climate Doom Is Out. 'Apocalyptic Optimism’ Is In. - New York Times - Climate Section |
Apr 21 · Focusing on disaster hasn’t changed the planet’s trajectory. Will a more upbeat approach show a way forward?
Credit...Photo Illustration by Doug Chayka
The philanthropist Kathryn Murdoch has prioritized donations to environmental causes for more than a decade. She has, she said, a deep understanding of how inhospitable the planet will become if climate change is not addressed. And she and her colleagues have spent years trying to communicate that.
“We have been screaming,” she said. “But screaming only gets you so far.”
This was on a morning in early spring. Murdoch and Ari Wallach, an author, producer and self-proclaimed futurist, had just released their new ... | By Alexis Soloski Read more ...
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Climate impacts set to cut 2050 global GDP by nearly a fifth:
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| Climate impacts set to cut 2050 global GDP by nearly a fifth - PHYS.ORG - Earth |
Apr 20 · Climate change caused by CO2 emissions already in the atmosphere will shrink global GDP in 2050 by about $38 trillion, or almost a fifth, no matter how aggressively humanity cuts carbon pollution, researchers said Wednesday.
But slashing greenhouse gas emissions as quickly as possible remains crucial to avoid even more devastating economic impacts after mid-century, they reported in the journal Nature.
Economic fallout from climate change, the study shows, could increase tens of trillions of dollars per year by 2100 if the planet were to warm significantly beyond two degrees Celsius above mid-19th century levels.
Earth's average surface temperature has already ... Read more ...
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Coal Train Pollution Increases Health Risks and Disparities:
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| Coal Train Pollution Increases Health Risks and Disparities - Science Daily - Earth and Climate |
Apr 24 · Trains carrying loads of coal bring with them higher rates of asthma, heart disease, hospitalization and death for residents living nearest the rail lines, according to a new study from the University of California, Davis.
The study, published online today in the journal Environmental Research, focuses on the San Francisco Bay Area and is the first health impact assessment of coal train pollution in the world.
It found that coal train pollution has significant health effects that disproportionately impact communities of color and people who are young, old, or have low incomes.
While centered on East Bay neighborhoods, the study carries implications for communities ... Read more ...
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Could Trump Cancel the IRA?:
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| Could Trump Cancel the IRA? - Legal Planet |
Apr 22 · The Inflation Reduction Act is Biden’s signature climate initiative. Trump has already called for repealing it, and so have some Republicans in Congress. Given the IRA’s huge cuts in carbon emissions, that would be a tragedy. Can he do that?
He would certainly face some very significant barriers. Trump would need Republican majorities in the Senate (very likely) and the House (less likely). When Trump was in office before, the Republicans found it difficult to pass legislation, and today’s GOP House can barely manage to function. Although they’ve expressed vociferous opposition to the IRA, it wouldn’t be at the top of their list of legislative priorities. And the IRA is ... Read more ...
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Cutting carbon by 'electrifying everything’:
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| Cutting carbon by 'electrifying everything’ - Greenbiz |
Apr 21 · Sponsored: Electrifying infrastructure is an investment in the future. From buildings to vehicles, electrification can be done with technology we have right now.
Siemens collaborates with Ford on customized electric vehicle charger for All-Electric F-150 Lightning Retail customers. Image courtesy of Siemens.
Siemens.
Across the United States, we are witnessing the transition to the "electrification of everything" to support the decarbonization of our environment. The technology to accomplish a fully electric transformation is already available - from electrifying buildings and vehicles to navigating the impact to the grid. But if we are going to address climate ... | By Matt Helgeson Read more ...
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Czechs 3D-print Eiffel Tower from ocean waste for Olympics:
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| Czechs 3D-print Eiffel Tower from ocean waste for Olympics - PHYS.ORG - Earth |
Apr 22 · A Czech company is 3D-printing a giant Eiffel Tower model for a local Olympics event, using recycled ocean waste as the primary material.
The 14-meter-high (46-foot) model will be installed at an Olympic festival in the north of the Czech Republic, where the public can try different Olympic sports during the Paris Games in July and August.
Jan Hrebabecky, the owner of the 3DDen printing farm, uses printing filament made from ocean waste.
"The material for the Eiffel Tower comes from the shores of Thailand," he told AFP.
"It has excellent mechanic and chemical qualities, great UV resistance, and it is practically immortal."
Collected by Thai fishermen, ... Read more ...
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Demystifying Ocean Carbon Dioxide Removal:
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| Demystifying Ocean Carbon Dioxide Removal - Climate Engineering (Lockley - Playlist) |
Apr 17 · More information at: https://www.eesi.org/041624ocean
The Environmental and Energy Study Institute (EESI) and the World Resources Institute (WRI) held a briefing about ocean carbon dioxide removal (CDR). Reaching global climate goals will require not only deep and rapid reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, but also large-scale removal of excess carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. While federal funding for research, development, and demonstration of land-based CDR approaches and technologies has increased significantly in recent years, the ocean also presents opportunities for carbon removal.
The ocean covers 70% of the Earth and serves as its largest carbon sink, holding 42 ... | By eesionline Read more ...
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Denmark launches its biggest offshore wind farm tender:
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| Denmark launches its biggest offshore wind farm tender - PHYS.ORG - Technology |
Apr 22 · The Danish Energy Agency on Monday launched its biggest tender for the construction of offshore wind farms, aimed at producing six gigawatts by 2030 - more than double Denmark's current capacity.
Offshore wind is one of the major sources of green energy that Europe is counting on to decarbonize electricity production and reach its 2050 target of net zero carbon production, but it remains far off the pace needed to hit its targets.
Denmark's offshore wind parks currently generate 2.7 gigawatts of electricity, with another one GW due in 2027.
The tender covers six sites in four zones in Danish waters: North Sea I, Kattegat, Kriegers Flak II and Hesselo.
"We are ... Read more ...
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Earth Day 2024: Four effective strategies to reduce household food waste:
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| Earth Day 2024: Four effective strategies to reduce household food waste - PHYS.ORG - Earth |
Apr 22 · 1.3 billion tons of food is enough to feed more than 3 billion people.
Food waste contributes to nearly 8% to 10% of all greenhouse gas emissions. That level of emissions is on the scale of what a large country would produce—just under total emission estimates of the United States and China—posing serious contributions to climate change.
The greatest contributors to food waste are high-income countries, where the average consumer wastes between 95–115 kilograms of food per year. In Canada, approximately 60% of food produced is lost or wasted per year, costing an estimated $49.5 billion. This figure constitutes about half the annual food purchase costs ... Read more ...
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Earth Day 2024: The Climate Benefits of the Inflation Reduction Act Are Worth Celebrating:
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| Earth Day 2024: The Climate Benefits of the Inflation Reduction Act Are Worth Celebrating - Union of Concerned Scientists - Energy |
Apr 21 · Leading up to Earth Day this year, I’ve been reflecting on the meaning and purpose of the annual celebration. Earth Day began under the Nixon Administration in 1970 as a day to support environmental protection and has grown to include nations and communities around the world in appreciation of Mother Earth.
Of course, like any other holiday, there have been instances of co-optation where big polluters seek to cover up their dirty deeds and greenwash their image by sponsoring Earth Day festivities. But I’m looking to celebrate the positives.
I’ve been to my fair share of trash cleanups, concerts, and craft fairs, but this year there’s one big policy I want to focus on ... Read more ...
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Energy Scientists Unravel the Mystery of Gold's Glow:
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| Energy Scientists Unravel the Mystery of Gold's Glow - Science Daily - Earth and Climate |
Apr 24 · Luminescence, or the emission of photons by a substance exposed to light, has been known to occur in semiconductor materials like silicon for hundreds of years. The nanoscale behavior of electrons as they absorb and then re-emit light can tell researchers a great deal about the properties of semiconductors, which is why they are often used as probes to characterize electronic processes, like those occurring inside solar cells.
In 1969, scientists discovered that all metals luminesce to some degree, but the intervening years failed to yield a clear understanding of how this occurs. Renewed interest in this light emission, driven by nanoscale temperature mapping and ... Read more ...
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Europe suffered record number of 'extreme heat stress' days in 2023: Monitors:
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| Europe suffered record number of 'extreme heat stress' days in 2023: Monitors - PHYS.ORG - Earth |
Apr 22 · Europe endured a record number of "extreme heat stress" days in 2023, two leading climate monitors said Monday, underscoring the threat of increasingly deadly summers across the continent.
In a year of contrasting extremes, Europe witnessed scorching heat waves but also catastrophic flooding, withering droughts, violent storms and its largest wildfire.
These disasters inflicted billions of dollars in damages and impacted more than two million people, the EU's Copernicus Climate Change Service and the UN's World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said in a new joint report.
The consequences for health were particularly acute, with heat singled out by these agencies ... Read more ...
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Exposure to Air Pollution During the First Two Years of Life Is Associated With Worse Attention Capacity in Children:
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| Exposure to Air Pollution During the First Two Years of Life Is Associated With Worse Attention Capacity in Children - Science Daily - Earth and Climate |
Apr 24 · A growing body of research shows that exposure to air pollution, especially during pregnancy and childhood, may have a negative impact on brain development. Now a study led by the Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal), a centre supported by the "la Caixa" Foundation, has found that exposure to nitrogen dioxide (NO2) during the first two years of life is associated with poorer attention capacity in children aged 4 to 8, especially in boys. NO2 is a pollutant that comes mainly from traffic emissions.
The study, published in Environment International, shows that higher exposure to NO2 was associated with poorer attentional function in 4- to 6-year-olds, with increased ... Read more ...
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Extreme weather should be defined according to impacts on climate-vulnerable communities:
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| Extreme weather should be defined according to impacts on climate-vulnerable communities - Nature Climate Change |
Apr 22 · Climate change and related extreme weather events (EWEs) are expected to widen social and health inequalities. Yet, EWE thresholds and associated adaptation strategies do not centre experiences of vulnerable communities. This study explored the impacts of temperature- and precipitation-based EWEs for women in informal settlements, whether meteorological definitions of these EWEs capture impacts and whether self-reported impacts can be used to develop impact-based thresholds. We combined meteorological data with longitudinal monthly survey data collected from September 2022 through February 2023 from a probability sample of 800 women in two informal settlements in Nairobi, Kenya. ... Read more ...
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Featured video: Moooving the needle on methane:
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| Featured video: Moooving the needle on methane - MIT - Greenhouse Gases |
Apr 21 · d="M12.132,61.991a5.519,5.519,0,0,1-5.866,5.753A5.554,5.554,0,0,1,.4,61.854a5.809,5.809,0,0,1,1.816-4.383,6.04,6.04,0,0,1,4.05-1.37C9.9,55.965,12.132,58.43,12.132,61.991Zm-8.939-.137c0,2.328,1.117,3.7,3.073,3.7s3.073-1.37,3.073-3.7-1.117-3.835-3.073-3.835C4.45,58.156,3.193,59.526,3.193,61.854Z" transform="translate(-0.4 -55.965)" fill="#333"/> d="M17.884,67.531l-3.352-5.753-1.257-2.191v7.944H10.9V56.3h2.793l3.212,5.616c.419.822.7,1.37,1.257,2.328V56.3h2.374V67.531Z" transform="translate(3.765 -55.889)" fill="#333"/> ... Read more ...
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Feedback loop that is melting ice shelves in West Antarctica revealed:
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| Feedback loop that is melting ice shelves in West Antarctica revealed - PHYS.ORG - Earth |
Apr 22 · The study, titled "Antarctic Slope Undercurrent and onshore heat transport driven by ice shelf melting" and published in Science Advances, sheds new light on the mechanisms driving the melting of ice shelves beneath the surface of the ocean, which have been unclear until now.
The West Antarctic Ice Sheet has been losing mass in recent decades, contributing to global sea level rise. If it were to melt entirely, global sea levels would rise by around five meters.
It's known that Circumpolar Deep Water (CDW), a water mass that is up to 4°C above local freezing temperatures, is flowing beneath the ice shelves in West Antarctica and melting them from below. Since so much ... Read more ...
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First discovery in decades of blue whales near Seychelles:
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| First discovery in decades of blue whales near Seychelles - PHYS.ORG - Biology |
Apr 22 · Their populations experienced a 89%–97% decline due to commercial whaling activities worldwide that started in the North Atlantic in 1868. Blue whales were primarily valued for their blubber, transformed into oil and used in cosmetics and soap, for the lubrication of industrial equipment, and as lamp oil. In 1978, the last deliberate capture of a blue whale was recorded off Spain.
Today, blue whales are found in all oceans except the Arctic. They usually migrate from their summer feeding grounds where they almost exclusively feed on krill to their winter breeding grounds. However, their migration patterns are still poorly understood, particularly in the Indian Ocean, ... Read more ...
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Free Course Aims to Train Advertisers to Combat Climate Change:
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| Free Course Aims to Train Advertisers to Combat Climate Change - Sustainable Brands |
Apr 22 · Good-Loop’s Good-Media Academy outlines how climate change impacts the ad industry, and what it can do to mitigate it.
Today, Good-Loop, an ethical ad agency that “exists to make advertising a positive force in the world,” launched its Good-Media Academy - a free course designed to teach agency teams the principles that make up “Good-Media,” and educate participants about the technologies available to mitigate the environmental impact of their campaigns.
Williams - who told Sustainable Brands® (SB) in a recent interview that her previous experience in advertising was the “antithesis of sustainability” - says the idea for Good-Loop, the first B Corp-certified ad-tech ... Read more ...
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Guardian Essential poll: voters back Labor’s Future Made in Australia plan while overestimating cost of renewables:
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| Guardian Essential poll: voters back Labor’s Future Made in Australia plan while overestimating cost of renewables - Guardian - Energy |
Apr 2 · Results highlight the difficulties government faces in selling energy transition to sceptical public
Voters have backed Anthony Albanese’s Future Made in Australia plan but are under the misapprehension that renewables are the most expensive form of power.
Those are the results of Guardian’s latest Essential poll of 1,145 voters, illustrating the difficulty for Labor of selling the energy transition to sceptical voters.
Albanese’s net approval was steady at -5%, with 48% disapproving of the job the prime minister is doing and 43% approving.
The opposition leader, Peter Dutton, received a positive rating of +3%. Some 44% approve of the job Dutton is doing, up ... Read more ...
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High interest rates could add billions to UK green energy transition, says report:
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| High interest rates could add billions to UK green energy transition, says report - Guardian - Energy |
Apr 2 · Resolution Foundation calls for fourfold increase in renewable power investment to reduce pressure on household bills
A permanent shift to higher interest rates could add billions of pounds to the UK’s renewable energy transition, a leading thinktank has warned.
Borrowing costs have soared since the easing of pandemic lockdowns and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as the world’s leading central banks raised interest rates to tackle inflation – pushing up the costs of investment in infrastructure across advanced economies including for green power generation schemes.
The Resolution Foundation said £29bn a year could therefore be added to household energy bills in 2050 ... Read more ...
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Highest-level rainstorm warning issued in south China's Guangdong:
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| Highest-level rainstorm warning issued in south China's Guangdong - PHYS.ORG - Earth |
Apr 23 · More than 100,000 people have been evacuated due to heavy rain and fatal floods in southern China, with the government issuing its highest-level rainstorm warning for the affected area on Tuesday.
Torrential rains have lashed Guangdong in recent days, swelling rivers and raising fears of severe flooding that state media said could be of the sort only "seen around once a century".
On Tuesday, the megacity of Shenzhen was among the areas listed as experiencing "heavy to very heavy downpours", the city's meteorological observatory said, adding the risk of flash floods was "very high".
Images from Qingyuan - a city in northern Guangdong that is part of the low-lying ... Read more ...
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Honda to build major EV plant in Canada: govt source:
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| Honda to build major EV plant in Canada: govt source - PHYS.ORG - Technology |
Apr 23 · Japanese auto giant Honda will open an electric vehicle plant in eastern Canada, a Canadian government source familiar with the multibillion-dollar project told AFP on Monday.
The federal government as well as the province of Ontario, where the plant will be built, will both provide some financial incentives for the deal, according to the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The official announcement is due Thursday, though Ontario premier Doug Ford hinted at the deal on Monday.
"This week, we've landed a new deal. It will be the largest deal in Canadian history. It'll be double the size of Volkswagen," he said, referring to a battery plant announced last ... Read more ...
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How Soil Microbes Survive in Harsh Desert Environments:
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| How Soil Microbes Survive in Harsh Desert Environments - Science Daily - Earth and Climate |
Apr 24 · Prolonged droughts followed by sudden bursts of rainfall -- how do desert soil bacteria manage to survive such harsh conditions? This long-debated question has now been answered by an ERC project led by microbiologist Dagmar Woebken from the Centre for Microbiology and Environmental Systems Science (CeMESS) at the University of Vienna. The study reveals that desert soil bacteria are highly adapted to survive the rapid environmental changes experienced with each rainfall event. These findings were recently published in the journal Nature Communications.
Drylands cover over 46% of global land area and are expanding, not only due to climate change but also unsustainable land ... Read more ...
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How spicy does mustard get depending on the soil?:
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| How spicy does mustard get depending on the soil? - PHYS.ORG - Earth |
Apr 22 · Can microbes in the soil also contribute to taste?
In a recent study published in New Phytologist, former Ph.D. student Corrine Walsh at the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES) at the University of Colorado Boulder and CIRES Fellow Noah Fierer have run one of the first experiments to determine whether soil microorganisms like bacteria and fungi influence the flavor of a crop. Their target: the spiciness of mustard seeds.
"I thought that was an interesting question," Walsh said. "We know microbes and plants communicate via chemicals—could those chemicals impact plant flavor?"
Previous research has confirmed that soil properties ... Read more ...
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In Ecuadoran Amazon, butterflies provide a gauge of climate change:
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| In Ecuadoran Amazon, butterflies provide a gauge of climate change - PHYS.ORG - Earth |
Apr 22 · Biologists on a trail in the Ecuadoran Amazon hold their breath as they distribute a foul-smelling delicacy to lure butterflies, critical pollinators increasingly threatened by climate change.
A team has hung 32 traps made of green nets, each baited with rotting fish and fermented bananas. They are meant to blend in with the forest canopy. Their pungent odor clearly does not.
Since last August, a team of biologists and park rangers has been monitoring butterfly numbers in the Cuyabeno Wildlife Reserve, a park famed for its abundant flora and fauna.
They catch and document the colorful insects, releasing most with an identifying mark on their wings. Some of them, ... Read more ...
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In photos: Heavy rains cause massive flooding in China’s Guangdong province:
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| In photos: Heavy rains cause massive flooding in China’s Guangdong province - Washington Post - Climate and Environment |
Apr 22 · Heavy rains continued to batter southern China on Monday, forcing tens of thousands of people from their homes as rescuers raced to evacuate those trapped by flooding and locate at least 11 missing residents.
The historical levels of rain across Guangdong province have come earlier than the region’s usual flood season, between May and June, prompting concerns about the effects of climate change on the country.
April 22 | Qingyuan, Guangdong province
The region has been pummeled by heavy rain since Thursday, triggering landslides that buried buildings and floods covering villages and cities.
April 22 | Qingyuan, Guangdong province
Residents row a boat on ... Read more ...
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In Vietnam, farmers reduce methane emissions by changing how they grow rice:
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| In Vietnam, farmers reduce methane emissions by changing how they grow rice - PHYS.ORG - Biology |
Apr 23 · That and the giant drone, its wingspan similar to that of an eagle, chuffing high above as it rains organic fertilizer onto the knee-high rice seedlings billowing below.
Using less water and using a drone to fertilize are new techniques that Van is trying and Vietnam hopes will help solve a paradox at the heart of growing rice: The finicky crop isn't just vulnerable to climate change but also contributes uniquely to it.
Rice must be grown separately from other crops and seedlings have to be individually planted in flooded fields; backbreaking, dirty work requiring a lot of labor and water that generates a lot of methane, a potent planet-warming gas that can trap more ... Read more ...
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Investigating the porosity of sedimentary rock with neutrons:
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| Investigating the porosity of sedimentary rock with neutrons - PHYS.ORG - Earth |
Apr 22 · At the Heinz Maier-Leibnitz Research Neutron Source (FRM II) at the Technical University of Munich (TUM), the networks of micropores were characterized using small and very small angle neutron scattering.
Dense, dark, compact—at first glance, the sedimentary rock samples that Dr. Amirsaman Rezaeyan has on his lab desk are only slightly different. Pores are not visible to the naked eye.
Nevertheless, it is precisely the pores that give the mudrocks their special properties: The pores, ranging from a few micrometers to sub-nanometers in size, are formed during sedimentation and compacted over time, determining the permeability. These pores are the decisive factor for ... Read more ...
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Ion thermoelectric conversion devices for near room temperature:
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| Ion thermoelectric conversion devices for near room temperature - PHYS.ORG - Technology |
Apr 22 · Prof. Zeng Wei of the Institute of Chemical Engineering, Guangdong Academy of Sciences, said that at the beginning, the research team mainly carried out study based on the thermal diffusion effect and published a series of research results. In spite of this, their results never realized the expected effect, and the prospect of practical application was not optimistic.
Later, they tried to make a further enhancement on the basis of the thermal current effect; that is, to incorporate the redox reaction of the electrode. The reason for this is that the thermal current effect is redox in the electrolyte, so the gain and loss of electrons mainly occur in the solution, and the ... Read more ...
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Is Online Shopping Bad for the Planet?:
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| Is Online Shopping Bad for the Planet? - New York Times - Climate Section |
Apr 22 · In theory, getting deliveries can be more efficient than driving to the store. But you may still want to think before you add to cart.
Credit...Naomi Anderson-Subryan
Dionne Searcey is part of a rotating cast of Climate reporters and special guest writers who will answer your burning climate questions.
The convenience of online shopping is hard to beat. But it uses a lot of energy and resources and can lead to more waste.
Transportation needed for online shopping spews greenhouse emissions. Three billion trees are cut down every year to produce packaging for all kinds of things, e-commerce included, according to some estimates. The data centers needed to ... | By Dionne Searcey Read more ...
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Jeff Bezos Commits $100M in Grants for AI Solutions to Climate Change:
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| Jeff Bezos Commits $100M in Grants for AI Solutions to Climate Change - Observer |
Apr 18 · Billionaire Jeff Bezos is looking for practitioners, researchers and innovators with ideas about combatting climate change with artificial intelligence. The Amazon (AMZN) founder’s Bezos Earth Fund will invest up to $100 million into solutions through the A.I. for Climate and Nature Grand Challenge, a new initiative urging applicants to propose ways to utilize emerging technologies for environmental good.
By clicking submit, you agree to our <a rel="nofollow noreferer" href="http://observermedia.com/terms">terms of service</a> and acknowledge we may use your information to send you emails, product samples, and promotions on this website and other properties. ... Read more ...
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Look to deadly Venus to find life in the universe, new paper argues:
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| Look to deadly Venus to find life in the universe, new paper argues - PHYS.ORG - Earth |
Apr 22 · "We often assume that Earth is the model of habitability, but if you consider this planet in isolation, we don't know where the boundaries and limitations are," said UC Riverside astrophysicist and paper first author Stephen Kane. "Venus gives us that."
Though it also features a pressure cooker-like atmosphere that would instantly flatten a human, Earth, and Venus share some similarities. They have roughly the same mass and radius. Given the proximity to that planet, it's natural to wonder why Earth turned out so differently.
Many scientists assume that insolation flux, the amount of energy Venus receives from the sun, caused a runaway greenhouse situation that ruined ... Read more ...
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Major investors leading push against Woodside’s climate plans ahead of AGM:
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| Major investors leading push against Woodside’s climate plans ahead of AGM - Guardian - Energy |
Apr 2 · Norway’s KLP and the UK’s LGIM among those who say they have concerns over energy giant’s carbon transition goals
Woodside Energy is facing the prospect of an overwhelming protest vote against its climate plans when shareholders meet on Wednesday, as global investors pick apart the emissions strategy of Australia’s biggest oil and gas company.
Norway’s largest pension fund, KLP, and Britain’s biggest asset manager, LGIM, are the latest investors to disclose they will vote against Woodside’s climate report, citing concerns over its carbon transition plans.
Critics have described Woodside’s strategy as overly reliant on offsets and not aligned with Paris climate ... Read more ...
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Malians struggle to cope after deadly heat wave:
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| Malians struggle to cope after deadly heat wave - PHYS.ORG - Earth |
Apr 21 · In Mali's capital Bamako, Aboubacar Pamateck runs a scarf under a trickle of water and wraps it around his head to cope with the West African nation's soaring heat.
Africa's Sahel region experienced a deadly heat wave in early April, exceptional both in terms of duration and intensity.
"I drink a lot of water and wear my turban, which I often get wet," Pamateck said. "I even avoid wearing nylon boubous. I prefer to wear small cotton boubous to avoid the heat."
From April 1 to April 5, temperatures in Mali exceeded 45 degrees Celsius (113 degrees Fahrenheit) and peaked at a record 48.5C in the western city of Kayes.
A few days later, the thermometer fell back ... Read more ...
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Mangrove blue carbon at higher risk of microplastic pollution:
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| Mangrove blue carbon at higher risk of microplastic pollution - PHYS.ORG - Earth |
Apr 22 · Microplastic pollution (particles <5 mm diameter) is one such issue affecting mangroves in particular. These tiny fragments can be of primary origin, such as microbeads used in personal care products like face washes and even toothpaste, or secondary from the decomposition of larger plastic pieces, such as water bottles and plastic bags.
Previous research has estimated that up to 12.7 million tons of plastic pollution entered the oceans in 2010, which is expected to have doubled by 2025 without appropriate intervention, and is carried globally via wind and currents.
Associate Professor Peng Zhang, of Guangdong Ocean University, China, and colleagues investigated the ... Read more ...
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Mitochondrial DNA copy number contributes to growth diversity in allopolyploid fish:
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| Mitochondrial DNA copy number contributes to growth diversity in allopolyploid fish - PHYS.ORG - Biology |
Apr 22 · Understanding the relationship between mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) and animal growth could provide valuable information for selective breeding in aquaculture. However, the complex interactions between genetics and environmental factors often hinders progress in this field. To that end, a recent study published in Reproduction and Breeding investigated the cross-sectional diameter of skeletal muscle fibers in allotriploid fish with different growth traits.
"Distant hybridization rapidly generates diverse genotypes and phenotypes, offering a rich resource for studying the role of genetic regulation in shaping phenotypes," explains co-corresponding author Li Ren, a researcher at ... Read more ...
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More than coral: The unseen casualties of record-breaking heat on the Great Barrier Reef:
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| More than coral: The unseen casualties of record-breaking heat on the Great Barrier Reef - PHYS.ORG - Biology |
Apr 22 · We're shocked and saddened by images of stark white coral skeletons. But the damage done by heat underwater goes much further. A living coral reef is a complex ecosystem teeming with vastly more species than the corals. Not only that, but 95% of the habitat on the reef is not coral, but sediment and sand, hotspots of hidden biodiversity. So, what happens to this cornucopia of life when subjected to extreme temperature stress?
We are currently on One Tree Island on the southern reef. It's home to a research station and has one of the highest levels of protection within the whole reef.
What have we found? So far, the signs are not good. When we dive underwater, we can ... Read more ...
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Mountain villages bearing direct brunt of climate change:
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| Mountain villages bearing direct brunt of climate change - kathmandupost |
Apr 22 · An avalanche on Mt Manaslu in Gorkha district on Sunday morning crashed into the Birendra lake, setting off flash floods downstream. The details of resulting losses have yet to be received, but reports said a wooden bridge that connected Samdu and Samagaun villages was swept away by the flood.
Following the incident, the Ministry of Home Affairs issued an alert asking people downstream and those living near the Budhi Gandaki River to take precautions, as floods could cause damage.
“Snow and debris from the avalanche that fell into the lake caused flash floods,” said Nima Lama, chairman of Chumnubri Rural Municipality of Gorkha district. “Although the effects of the ... Read more ...
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NASA's Voyager 1 resumes sending engineering updates to Earth:
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| NASA's Voyager 1 resumes sending engineering updates to Earth - PHYS.ORG - Earth |
Apr 22 · For the first time since November, NASA's Voyager 1 spacecraft is returning usable data about the health and status of its onboard engineering systems. The next step is to enable the spacecraft to begin returning science data again. The probe and its twin, Voyager 2, are the only spacecraft to ever fly in interstellar space (the space between stars).
Voyager 1 stopped sending readable science and engineering data back to Earth on Nov. 14, 2023, even though mission controllers could tell the spacecraft was still receiving their commands and otherwise operating normally. In March, the Voyager engineering team at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California confirmed ... Read more ...
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Net zero has become unhelpful slogan, says outgoing head of UK climate watchdog:
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| Net zero has become unhelpful slogan, says outgoing head of UK climate watchdog - Guardian - Energy |
Apr 2 · Chris Stark says populist response and culture war around the term is inhibiting environmental progress
The concept of “net zero” has become a political slogan used to start a “dangerous” culture war over the climate, and may be better dropped, the outgoing head of the UK’s climate watchdog has warned.
Chris Stark, the chief executive of the Climate Change Committee (CCC), said sensible improvements to the economy and people’s lives were being blocked by a populist response to the net zero label, and he would be “intensely relaxed” about losing the term.
“Net zero has definitely become a slogan that I feel occasionally is now unhelpful, because it’s so associated ... Read more ...
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New Report Details Just How Quickly Europe Is Warming:
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| New Report Details Just How Quickly Europe Is Warming - Huffington Post |
Apr 22 · NAPLES, Italy (AP) - Europe is the fastest-warming continent and its temperatures are rising at roughly twice the global average, two top climate monitoring organizations reported Monday, warning of the consequences for human health, glacier melt and economic activity.
The U.N.’s World Meteorological Organization and the European Union’s climate agency, Copernicus, said in a joint report the continent has the opportunity to develop targeted strategies to speed up the transition to renewable resources like wind, solar and hydroelectric power in response to the effects of climate change.
The continent generated 43% of its electricity from renewable resources last year, up ... Read more ...
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Nine practices from Native American culture that could help the environment:
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| Nine practices from Native American culture that could help the environment - Washington Post - Climate and Environment |
Apr 22 · Since the first Earth Day in 1970, the world has experienced profound ecological changes. Wildlife populations have decreased by 69 percent, the result of habitat loss caused by rapid industrialization and changing temperatures. 2023 was the hottest year on record.
Certain ancient practices could mitigate the deleterious effects of global warming. From building seaside gardens to water management in desert terrain, these time-honored practices work with the natural world’s rhythms. Some might even hold the key to a more resilient future and a means of building security for both Indigenous communities and other groups disproportionately impacted by climate change.
Jim ... Read more ...
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NOAA confirms fourth global coral bleaching event:
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| NOAA confirms fourth global coral bleaching event - PHYS.ORG - Biology |
Apr 20 · Bleaching-level heat stress, as remotely monitored and predicted by NOAA's Coral Reef Watch (CRW), has been—and continues to be—extensive across the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Ocean basins. CRW's heat-stress monitoring is based on sea surface temperature data, spanning 1985 to the present, from a blend of NOAA and partner satellites.
"From February 2023 to April 2024, significant coral bleaching has been documented in both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres of each major ocean basin," said Derek Manzello, Ph.D., NOAA CRW coordinator.
Since early 2023, mass bleaching of coral reefs has been confirmed throughout the tropics, including in Florida in the ... Read more ...
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Planet sees 10 straight months of record-breaking heat:
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| Planet sees 10 straight months of record-breaking heat - PHYS.ORG - Earth |
Apr 21 · Californians have had weekend after weekend of cool, stormy weather and the Sierra Nevada has been blessed with a healthy snowpack. But the reality is that even the last few months have been more than 2 degrees hotter than average.
The planet is experiencing a horrifying streak of record-breaking heat, with March marking the 10th month in a row that the average global temperature has been the highest ever recorded.
It would be shocking if it wasn't so predictable. Despite everything we know about the effects of burning fossil fuels, humanity is still going in the wrong direction with self-destructive abandon. Last year greenhouse gas pollution climbed to a new high, a ... Read more ...
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Planning at multiple scales for healthy corals and communities:
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| Planning at multiple scales for healthy corals and communities - PHYS.ORG - Biology |
Apr 22 · The work has been published in Nature Sustainability.
The nature-based approaches evaluated as key watershed (e.g., drainage area) interventions include ecosystem restoration or protection, and sustainable agriculture. Yet determining which areas to target for these interventions requires understanding the complex relationships between terrestrial and marine ecosystems, also known as "land-sea linkages," their benefits to people, and the spatial scale being considered.
This work pushed the boundaries of how scientists analyze biophysical and ecological relationships, using cutting-edge optimization models (for the first time in a coastal context) of how to maximize ... Read more ...
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Playing God? Weather Change Experiments in San Francisco:
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| Playing God? Weather Change Experiments in San Francisco - Climate Engineering (Lockley - Playlist) |
Apr 20 | By CBN News Read more ...
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Powering down: end times for the UK’s final coal-fired station:
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| Powering down: end times for the UK’s final coal-fired station - Guardian - Energy |
Apr 2 · At Ratcliffe-on-Soar in Nottinghamshire, the turbines will stop spinning for good this year as the UK meets its pledge to ban coal use. We meet staff proud of the site’s 56-year history
From the northernmost reaches of the River Soar in Nottinghamshire, the towers of Britain’s last coal-fired power station emerge from the flat countryside like concrete monuments to another time.
For more than half a century Ratcliffe-on-Soar has burned millions of tonnes of coal to generate the electricity needed to power the British economy. But one by one Britain’s coal power stations have closed, leaving Ratcliffe the sole survivor. In less than six months it, too, will finally power ... Read more ...
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Q&A: B.C.'s 2024 wildfire season has started - here's what to know:
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| Q&A: B.C.'s 2024 wildfire season has started - here's what to know - PHYS.ORG - Earth |
Apr 21 · Dr. Daniels is the Koerner Chair in the Center for Wildfire Coexistence at UBC, focusing on proactive management to increase ecosystem and community resilience to climate change and wildfires. Dr. Bourbonnais is a former wildland firefighter and now assistant professor at UBC Okanagan who employs advanced technologies to study wildfire risk and behavior.
Drs. Daniels and Bourbonnais answer questions on the outlook for wildfire season, and how communities can prepare for a challenging year.
What should we expect in terms of wildfire magnitude and severity this year?
LD: Predicting the fire season is challenging, but we are hoping for spring rains after the dry ... Read more ...
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Q&A: Could automation, electrification of long-haul trucking reduce environmental impacts?:
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| Q&A: Could automation, electrification of long-haul trucking reduce environmental impacts? - PHYS.ORG - Technology |
Apr 22 · For long-haul routes below 300 miles, electrification can reduce air pollution and greenhouse gas damages by 13%, or $587 million annually, according to the study. For long-haul routes above 300 miles, electrification of just the urban segments facilitated by hub-based automation of highway driving can reduce damages by 35%, or $220 million annually.
"It's the first study we know of that simultaneously studies a realistic model of automation and a realistic model of electrification—things that are feasible in the near term—and assesses their environmental benefits," said lead author Parth Vaishnav, assistant professor at the U-M School for Environment and ... Read more ...
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Research showcases Indigenous stewardship's role in forest ecosystem resilience:
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| Research showcases Indigenous stewardship's role in forest ecosystem resilience - PHYS.ORG - Earth |
Apr 22 · Western scientists and land managers have become increasingly cognizant of cultural burning, but its extent and purpose are generally absent from fire modeling research, said Skye Greenler, who led the partnership when she was a graduate research fellow in the OSU College of Forestry.
"We developed this project in collaboration with the Karuk Tribe to explore the impact of cultural burning at a landscape scale in a completely new way," she said. "The information that went into this model is not new at all—it's been held by Karuk Tribal members for millennia—but we developed new methods to bring the knowledge together and display it in a way that showcases the ... Read more ...
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Researchers develop sodium battery capable of rapid charging in just a few seconds:
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| Researchers develop sodium battery capable of rapid charging in just a few seconds - PHYS.ORG - Technology |
Apr 19 · The innovative hybrid energy storage system integrates anode materials typically used in batteries with cathodes suitable for supercapacitors. This combination allows the device to achieve both high storage capacities and rapid charge-discharge rates, positioning it as a viable next-generation alternative to lithium-ion batteries.
However, the development of a hybrid battery with high energy and high power density requires an improvement to the slow energy storage rate of battery-type anodes as well as the enhancement of the relatively low capacity of supercapacitor-type cathode materials.
To account for this, Professor Kang's team utilized two distinct metal-organic ... Read more ...
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Researchers uncover kinky metal alloy that won't crack at extreme temperatures at the atomic level:
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| Researchers uncover kinky metal alloy that won't crack at extreme temperatures at the atomic level - PHYS.ORG - Earth |
Apr 22 · In this context, strength is defined as how much force a material can withstand before it is permanently deformed from its original shape, and toughness is its resistance to fracturing (cracking). The alloy's resilience to bending and fracture across an enormous range of conditions could open the door for a novel class of materials for next-generation engines that can operate at higher efficiencies.
The team, led by Robert Ritchie at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) and UC Berkeley, in collaboration with the groups led by professors Diran Apelian at UC Irvine and Enrique Lavernia at Texas A&M University, discovered the alloy's surprising properties and then ... Read more ...
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Restoring coastal habitat boosts wildlife numbers by 61% - but puzzling failures mean we can still do better:
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| Restoring coastal habitat boosts wildlife numbers by 61% - but puzzling failures mean we can still do better - PHYS.ORG - Biology |
Apr 22 · Pollution, coastal development, climate change and many other human impacts have degraded or destroyed swathes of mangrove forests, saltmarshes, seagrass meadows, macroalgae (seaweed) forests and coral and shellfish reefs. We've lost a staggering 85% of shellfish reefs around the world and coral is bleaching globally.
When healthy, these coastal habitats help feed the world by supporting fisheries. They are home to more than 100 species of charismatic marine megafauna, ranging from sharks to dugongs. They sequester carbon, thus helping to slow climate change. The list goes on.
Healthy coastal habitats are the gift that keeps on giving. We need them back, so there's a lot ... Read more ...
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Salesforce to lobby for new rules on AI’s environmental impact:
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| Salesforce to lobby for new rules on AI’s environmental impact - Greenbiz |
Apr 22 · Computing uses up to 3 percent of global power consumption and AI could triple that, the company believes.
The Salesforce Tower in New York City. Image via Shutterstock/Arnett Murry
Salesforce will begin lobbying for new regulations requiring companies to disclose emissions data and efficiency standards for artificial intelligence.
The company announced the move Monday as part of its new "Sustainable AI Policy Priorities." It has previously published positions on ethics and equity related to AI, as have other big tech companies including Amazon, Google and Microsoft.
Salesforce’s new policy comes amid growing concern over the amount of electricity required to ... | By Heather Clancy Read more ...
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Science-Based Climate Targets Key to Sustainable Tourism:
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| Science-Based Climate Targets Key to Sustainable Tourism - Sustainable Brands |
Apr 22 · Regardless of whether a travel-related company has submitted its commitments to SBTi; setting specific, quantifiable, time-bound goals is essential for meaningfully reducing climate-changing emissions.
British mathematician Lord Kelvin is credited with saying that if you can’t measure it, you can’t improve it. Business management consultant Peter Drucker later offered his additional perspective when he said, “If you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it.”
At a time when industries around the world need to drastically reduce their environmental footprint, these quotable missives offer more than nice soundbites: They clearly explain why definitive measurements are needed ... Read more ...
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Scientists Develop Framework to Measure Plastic Emissions and Bolster U.N. Efforts to Reduce Pollution:
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| Scientists Develop Framework to Measure Plastic Emissions and Bolster U.N. Efforts to Reduce Pollution - Science Daily - Earth and Climate |
Apr 24 · University of Toronto (U of T) scientists have developed a framework for measuring plastic pollution emissions akin to the global standard for measuring greenhouse gas emissions. The researchers say the approach will boost identification of the biggest contributors to plastic pollution from local to national levels and improve strategies in reducing emissions worldwide.
The framework arrives ahead of international discussions in Ottawa from April 23 to 29 led by the United Nations' Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee on Plastic Pollution towards a legally binding global agreement on plastic pollution.
Using Toronto as a model, the researchers developed the ... Read more ...
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Scientists unlocked solar patterns that could help understand space weather:
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| Scientists unlocked solar patterns that could help understand space weather - Washington Post - Climate and Environment |
Apr 21 · The sun is more than a heat lamp for Earth. It is constantly spitting streams of solar particles our way and, sometimes, powerful pockets of solar material that can jolt our planet. Now, scientists are unlocking another puzzle piece on what may drive extreme solar activity, which could bombard Earth and disrupt our technology.
The missing piece could be linked to unusual patterns of high energy bursting from the sun’s surface, according to recent research.
We’re used to hearing about the sun’s ultraviolet radiation, which we protect ourselves against with sunscreen. The sun also emits much more powerful gamma rays, which are the most energetic waves on an electromagnetic ... Read more ...
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Surf Clams Off the Coast of Virginia Reappear -- And Rebound:
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| Surf Clams Off the Coast of Virginia Reappear -- And Rebound - Science Daily - Earth and Climate |
Apr 24 · The Atlantic surfclam, an economically valuable species that is the main ingredient in clam chowder and fried clam strips, has returned to Virginia waters in a big way, reversing a die-off that started more than two decades ago.
In a comprehensive study of surfclams collected from an area about 45 miles due east from the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay, Rutgers scientists found the population to be thriving and growing. A likely reason could be that environmental conditions improved, and another possibility is that the clams adapted, the scientists said. The report, published in the science journal Estuaries and Coasts, details the characteristics of a population of healthy-size ... Read more ...
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Tesla cuts the price of its 'Full Self Driving' system by a third to $8,000:
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| Tesla cuts the price of its 'Full Self Driving' system by a third to $8,000 - PHYS.ORG - Technology |
Apr 22 · Tesla knocked roughly a third off the price of its "Full Self Driving" system - which can't drive itself and so drivers must remain alert and be ready to intervene - to $8,000 from $12,000, according to the company website.
Tesla CEO and billionaire Elon Musk promised in 2019 that there would be a fleet of robotaxis on the road in 2020, but the promise has yet to materialize, and the system still has to be supervised by humans.
The cuts, which occurred on Saturday, follow Tesla's moves to slash $2,000 off the prices of three of its five models in the United States late Friday. That's the latest evidence of the challenges facing the electric vehicle maker.
Tesla ... Read more ...
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Tesla earnings a 'moment of truth' for Musk after stumbles:
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| Tesla earnings a 'moment of truth' for Musk after stumbles - PHYS.ORG - Technology |
Apr 23 · Tesla CEO Elon Musk faces heightened pressure with Tuesday's earnings report to reassure investors that recent stumbles are simply unexpected speed bumps - and not indications of a road to decline.
The electric car maker, which enjoyed scorching growth for most of 2022 and 2023, has experienced setbacks that analysts say have raised the stakes for the first-quarter report.
Tuesday's earnings and conference call are a "moment of truth" for Tesla and Musk, constituting "one of the most important moments in the company's history in our view," said a note from Wedbush.
Heading into 2024, Tesla watchers were already girding for a tougher path, with Musk's once-dominant ... Read more ...
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The Biggest Barrier to a Vibrant Second-Hand EV Market? Price:
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| The Biggest Barrier to a Vibrant Second-Hand EV Market? Price - Science Daily - Earth and Climate |
Apr 24 · As early adopters of electric vehicles (EVs) trade up for the latest models, the used EV market is beginning to mature in the United States. Yet many potential buyers, particularly low-income drivers, are skeptical of EV's conveniences and are put off by the price, according to a study conducted at Rutgers University-New Brunswick.
"While the transition to electric vehicles is an important piece of reducing greenhouse-gas emissions, the market for used electric vehicles in the U.S. remains dominated by wealthy households," said Wei San Loh, a former graduate student of the Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy at Rutgers-New Brunswick whose study is ... Read more ...
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The Guardian Essential report:
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| The Guardian Essential report - Guardian - Energy |
Apr 2 · Jobs will change, communities will be affected, but we have a shot at rising to the challenge of global heating
The climate crisis has long been defined by its lies: From the original sin of science denial, to Tony Abbott’s confected carbon tax panic, to the latest yellowcake straw man. But the most damaging porky of all might be that the transition to renewable energy will be easy.
Government messaging has propagated this myth, vacillating between the torpid technocracy of targets, acronyms and megawatt hours and the sunny spin that promises “a cheaper, cleaner energy future!”.
Both gloss over the hard truth that fundamentally changing the way Australia produces, ... Read more ...
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The Italian Central Apennines as a Source of CO2:
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| The Italian Central Apennines as a Source of CO2 - Science Daily - Earth and Climate |
Apr 24 · Tectonically active mountains play an important role in the natural CO2 regulation of the atmosphere. Competing processes take place here: At Earth's surface, erosion drives weathering processes that absorb or release CO2, depending on the type of rock. At depth, the heating and melting of carbonate rock leads to the outgassing of CO2 at the surface. In the central Italian Apennine Mountains, researchers led by Erica Erlanger and Niels Hovius from the GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences and Aaron Bufe from the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München have now investigated and balanced all of these processes in one region for the first time -- using, among others, ... Read more ...
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The week ahead in climate policy:
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| The week ahead in climate policy - Greenbiz |
Apr 22 · This week’s most important ongoing climate policy stories.
Plastic pollution on a beach. Photo: Shutterstock/Take Photo | By Leah Garden Read more ...
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These 150-foot-high sails could help solve shipping’s climate problem:
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| These 150-foot-high sails could help solve shipping’s climate problem - Washington Post - Climate and Environment |
Apr 22 · To cut costs and carbon emissions, cargo ships are putting a new spin on an ancient technology: the sail.
These aren’t the sailboats of yore. Modern sails look more like airplane wings, smokestacks or balloons, and they use artificial intelligence to catch the wind with little help from mariners who long ago forgot the art of hoisting a mainsail.
Sails can reduce an existing ship’s fuel consumption - and greenhouse emissions - by something like 10 or 20 percent, according to maritime experts, making them an attractive option for ship owners looking to cut costs or comply with environmental regulations.
Ships burn some of the world’s dirtiest fuels and generate ... Read more ...
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This ancient snake in India might have been longer than a school bus and weighed a ton:
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| This ancient snake in India might have been longer than a school bus and weighed a ton - PHYS.ORG - Earth |
Apr 20 · Fossils found near a coal mine revealed a snake that stretched an estimated 36 feet (11 meters) to 50 feet (15 meters). It's comparable to the largest known snake at about 42 feet (13 meters) that once lived in what is now Colombia.
The largest living snake today is Asia's reticulated python at 33 feet (10 meters).
The newly discovered behemoth lived 47 million years ago in western India's swampy evergreen forests. It could have weighed up to 2,200 pounds (1,000 kilograms), researchers said in the journal Scientific Reports.
They gave it the name Vasuki indicus after "the mythical snake king Vasuki, who wraps around the neck of the Hindu deity Shiva," said Debajit ... Read more ...
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Three dead, tens of thousands evacuated as storms strike south China:
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| Three dead, tens of thousands evacuated as storms strike south China - PHYS.ORG - Earth |
Apr 22 · Three people are dead and 11 others missing following storms that battered southern China, state media said Monday, with tens of thousands evacuated away from the torrential downpours.
Heavy rain has descended upon the vast southern province of Guangdong in recent days, swelling rivers and raising fears of severe flooding that state media said could be of the sort only "seen around once a century".
"The three deaths were reported in Zhaoqing City. They were trapped due to the rainfall and were found to have died at the site," state broadcaster Xinhua reported, citing local authorities.
Eleven others remain missing as search and rescue efforts in the area continue ... Read more ...
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Three Places Changing Quickly to Fight Climate Change:
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| Three Places Changing Quickly to Fight Climate Change - New York Times - Climate Section |
Apr 22 · Paris is becoming a city of bikes. Across China, people are snapping up $5,000 electric cars. On Earth Day, a look at a few bright spots for emission reductions.
Glaciers are shrinking, coral reefs are in crisis and last year was the hottest on record. Atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas, have passed a dangerous new threshold as people continue to burn fossil fuels. Is anyplace making progress on climate change?
The short answer is: It’s complicated, but yes.
In South America, one country has pivoted in less than a decade to generating almost all its electricity from a diverse mix of renewables. In China, an electric car that costs ... | By Delger Erdenesanaa Read more ...
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Trump Cancels Rally Due To Weather, Proving The Difficulty Of Balancing Trial And Campaign:
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| Trump Cancels Rally Due To Weather, Proving The Difficulty Of Balancing Trial And Campaign - Huffington Post |
Apr 20 · WILMINGTON, N.C. (AP) - Donald Trump had to cancel his first planned rally since the start of his criminal hush money trial because of a storm Saturday evening in North Carolina, an added complication that highlights the difficulty the former president faces in juggling his legal troubles with his rematch against President Joe Biden.
Trump called into the rally site near the Wilmington airport less than an hour before he was scheduled to take the stage and apologized to a few thousand supporters who had gathered throughout the afternoon under initially sunny skies that later darkened with storm clouds.
Speaking from his private plane, Trump cited lightning and the ... Read more ...
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Turning to nature to improve vital water treatment:
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| Turning to nature to improve vital water treatment - PHYS.ORG - Earth |
Apr 22 · Escalating industrialization, urbanization and climate change in Asia present a significant challenge to maintaining water quality.
In an effort to improve water treatment, RMIT has collaborated in an international team supporting pilot projects in Vietnam, Sri Lanka and the Philippines through an Asia-Pacific Network for Global Change Research project.
Led by RMIT's Professor Jega Jegatheesan, the pilots included the construction of floating wetlands in Can Tho, Vietnam and Kandy, Sri Lanka, green roofs in Ho Chi Minh City and constructed wetland in the Philippines.
This saw 40 students at Can Tho University trained to build and install the structures in two ... Read more ...
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US advances review of Nevada lithium mine amid concerns over endangered wildflower:
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| US advances review of Nevada lithium mine amid concerns over endangered wildflower - PHYS.ORG - Biology |
Apr 23 · The Biden administration has taken a significant step in its expedited environmental review of what could become the third lithium mine in the U.S., amid anticipated legal challenges from conservationists over the threat they say it poses to an endangered Nevada wildflower.
The Bureau of Land Management released more than 2,000 pages of documents in a draft environmental impact statement last week for the Rhyolite Ridge mine. Lithium is a metal key to the manufacture of batteries for electric vehicles - a centerpiece of President Joe Biden's "green energy" agenda.
Officials for the bureau and its parent Interior Department trumpeted the news, saying the progress in the ... Read more ...
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Versatile fibers offer improved energy storage capacity for wearable devices:
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| Versatile fibers offer improved energy storage capacity for wearable devices - PHYS.ORG - Technology |
Apr 19 · A joint research team led by Dr. Hyeonsu Jeong and Namdong Kim of the Center for Functional Composite Materials, Jeonbuk Branch, and Dr. Seungmin Kim of the Center for Carbon Fusion Materials has developed a fiber-like electrode material that can store energy. The research is published in the journal Advanced Energy Materials.
The fibers are strong, lightweight, and highly flexible, enabling greater freedom in wearable device form factors and the ability to be made into various shapes and applications.
Carbon nanotube fibers are flexible, lightweight, and possess excellent mechanical and electrical properties, making them a promising material for wearable devices. ... Read more ...
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Weather Prediction Models Can Also Forecast Satellite Displacements:
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| Weather Prediction Models Can Also Forecast Satellite Displacements - Science Daily - Earth and Climate |
Apr 24 · In the study, the researchers utilized numerical weather models. They are sophisticated computer simulators that predict future atmospheric conditions based on current observations and laws of physics.
"Numerical weather models not only simulate weather patterns but also calculate various parameters, including the Earth's energy emissions and reflections under various weather conditions. By analysing these simulations, we sought to understand how changes in weather, such as cloud cover and storms, influence the movement of satellites, affecting their ability to fulfil their intended duties," says Sanam Motlaghzadeh, lead author of the study and doctoral researcher at INAR, ... Read more ...
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What are virtual power plants?:
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| What are virtual power plants? - Yale Climate Connections - Energy |
Apr 22 · Stay in the know about climate impacts and solutions. Subscribe to our weekly newsletter.
Yale Climate Connections
For decades, electricity has been produced at large power plants and then sent to homes and businesses.
But as rooftop solar and other renewable sources expand, energy can be generated all over.
Nemtzow: “For the first time, we can take distributed energy resources, which have been around for many years, but we can organize them to act like power plants.”
David Nemtzow is with the U.S. Department of Energy.
A so-called virtual power plant can be operated by a traditional utility. It can include solar panels, car batteries, ... Read more ...
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When red-hot isn't enough: New government heat risk tool sets magenta as most dangerous level:
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| When red-hot isn't enough: New government heat risk tool sets magenta as most dangerous level - PHYS.ORG - Earth |
Apr 23 · The National Weather Service and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Monday—Earth Day—presented a new online heat risk system that combines meteorological and medical risk factors with a seven-day forecast that's simplified and color-coded for a warming world of worsening heat waves.
"For the first time we'll be able to know how hot is too hot for health and not just for today but for coming weeks," Dr. Ari Bernstein, director of the National Center for Environmental Health, said at a joint news conference by government health and weather agencies.
Magenta is the worst and deadliest of five heat threat categories, hitting everybody with what the ... Read more ...
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Why is methane seeping on Mars? NASA scientists have new ideas:
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| Why is methane seeping on Mars? NASA scientists have new ideas - PHYS.ORG - Earth |
Apr 22 · Living creatures produce most of the methane on Earth. But scientists haven't found convincing signs of current or ancient life on Mars, and thus didn't expect to find methane there. Yet, the portable chemistry lab aboard Curiosity, known as SAM, or Sample Analysis at Mars, has continually sniffed out traces of the gas near the surface of Gale Crater, the only place on the surface of Mars where methane has been detected thus far. Its likely source, scientists assume, are geological mechanisms that involve water and rocks deep underground.
If that were the whole story, things would be easy. However, SAM has found that methane behaves in unexpected ways in Gale Crater. It ... Read more ...
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Wind and solar in limbo: Long waitlists to get on the grid are a 'leading barrier':
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| Wind and solar in limbo: Long waitlists to get on the grid are a 'leading barrier' - PHYS.ORG - Technology |
Apr 22 · Ninety miles west of Chicago, the corn and soybean fields stretch to the sky, and dreams of the clean energy future dangle - just out of reach.
To the east of Route 52, there's the first phase of the 9,500-acre Steward Creek solar farm, in the works since 2019.
To the west, there's South Dixon Solar, which once hoped to begin construction on 3,800 acres in 2022.
Both projects have been approved by the Lee County Board. But neither can be built, according to a county official, due to PJM Interconnection, a powerful but little-known entity that controls access to the high-voltage electric grid in northern Illinois.
"There isn't anything we can do to help the ... Read more ...
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Without proper management, Brazil's Cerrado becomes disfigured and less resilient to climate change:
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| Without proper management, Brazil's Cerrado becomes disfigured and less resilient to climate change - PHYS.ORG - Biology |
Apr 22 · The Cerrado, Brazil's savanna biome, is being destroyed at a fast pace, and inadequate management of remnants is transforming large areas of the biome into cerradão, a biodiversity-poor forest formation in which species typical of the Cerrado mingle with generalist species occupying gallery forest and other structures.
Scientists wonder whether areas of cerradão can conserve the biodiversity of the Cerrado. If not, they may evolve into a type of biodiverse forest similar to the Atlantic Rainforest biome, or they may become neither one nor the other.
A long-term study set out to find answers to these questions by investigating changes occurring over a ... Read more ...
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World's oases threatened by desertification, even as humans expand them:
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| World's oases threatened by desertification, even as humans expand them - PHYS.ORG - Earth |
Apr 22 · "Although the scientific community has always emphasized the importance of oases, there has not been a clear map of the global distribution of oases," said Dongwei Gui, a geoscientist at the Chinese Academy of Science, who led the study. "Oasis research has both theoretical and practical significance for achieving United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and promoting sustainable development in arid regions."
The study found that oases around the world grew by more than 220,149 square kilometers (85,000 square miles) from 1995 to 2020, mostly due to intentional oasis expansion projects in Asia. But desertification drove the loss of 134,300 square kilometers (51,854 square ... Read more ...
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