Sat.Apr 20, 2024 - Fri.Apr 26, 2024

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A Golden Age of Renewables Is Beginning, and California Is Leading the Way

Scientific American

California has hit record-breaking milestones in renewable electricity generation, showing that wind, water and solar are ready to cover our electricity needs

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LGBTQ People Face Greater Climate Risks

Legal Planet

In August of 2005 when Hurricane Katrina made landfall in Louisiana and Mississippi, the combination of torrential rain and flawed infrastructure proved deadly. More than 1,800 people died and the price tag for the damage quickly rose to the tens of billions of dollars. In the chaotic disaster response that followed, several communities were disproportionately vulnerable to discrimination during recovery.

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What Fixed Charges on Your Electric Bill Could Mean for Charging an EV in California

Union of Concerned Scientists

Residential electricity rates for many Californians have increased significantly over the last year, making it more expensive to charge an electric vehicle (EV) at home. It’s still cheaper to recharge an EV than buy gasoline, but those savings have been eroded by surging electric rates. Prompted by a state law, California’s utility regulator has proposed to change the way electricity is billed by adding a fixed monthly charge to all rate plans and making a corresponding reduction to the cost for

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Nuclear fusion experiment overcomes two key operating hurdles

New Scientist

Two important barriers to a stable, powerful fusion reaction have been leapt by an experiment in a small tokamak reactor, but we don’t yet know if the technique will work in larger devices

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Manufacturing Sustainability Surge: Your Guide to Data-Driven Energy Optimization & Decarbonization

Speaker: Kevin Kai Wong, President of Emergent Energy Solutions

In today's industrial landscape, the pursuit of sustainable energy optimization and decarbonization has become paramount. Manufacturing corporations across the U.S. are facing the urgent need to align with decarbonization goals while enhancing efficiency and productivity. Unfortunately, the lack of comprehensive energy data poses a significant challenge for manufacturing managers striving to meet their targets.

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The energy transition is already happening, and it’s being led by our Indigenous communities

Enviromental Defense

This blog was written by Melina Laboucan-Massimo, Founder and Executive Director of Sacred Earth Solar My name is Melina Laboucan-Massimo. I am from the Lubicon Cree First Nation in Little Buffalo, Alberta. In 2011, my community experienced what was the second-largest oil spill in the province’s history – 4.5 million litres of crude oil (28,000 barrels) contaminated hectares of an aquifer, beaver ponds, muskeg and dense forest.

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EPA’s New Power Plant Rules Have Dropped. What Happens Next?

Legal Planet

EPA has just issued a cluster of new rules designed to limit carbon emissions from power generators. Once upon a time, the presumption would have been that the rules would quietly go into effect, until someday a court rules on their validity. These days, we can expect a lot of action to be begin almost right away. First, we are likely to lawsuits filed before opponents have even had a chance to read the new rules.

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A new kind of experiment at the LHC could unravel quantum reality

New Scientist

The Large Hadron Collider is testing entanglement in a whole new energy range, probing the meaning of quantum theory – and the possibility that an even stranger reality lies beneath

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Witness At Senate Hearing On Oil & Gas Wastewater Road Dumping Reports Her Home Has Been Surrounded By Dumping; Dumping Again On The Upswing In 2024

PA Environment Daily

Siri Lawson from Warren County said her home has now been surrounded by oil and gas wastewater dumping, including three incidents on the road in front of her home since April 4. Lawson provided testimony on April 17 to the Senate Democratic Policy Committee on the issue of road dumping oil and gas wastewater on public roads. Lawson said there was no oil and gas wastewater dumped on her road in Farmington Township for more than six years after the 2018 Environmental Hearing Board case she brought

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Climate Action for Earth Day

Legal Planet

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.

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A Call for Climate Justice at the InterAmerican Court of Human Rights

Union of Concerned Scientists

This week, the InterAmerican Court of Human Rights (IACHR) started to hear testimony at the University of the West Indies , near Bridgetown, Barbados, addressing one of the most pressing global issues of our time: climate change and its implications on human rights. Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) Research Scientist Carly Philips (pictured on the left above) testified on April 24.

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Implementing D.E.J.I. Strategies in Energy, Environment, and Transportation

Speaker: Antoine M. Thompson, Executive Director of the Greater Washington Region Clean Cities Coalition

Diversity, Equity, Justice, and Inclusion (DEJI) policies, programs, and initiatives are critically important as we move forward with public and private sector climate and sustainability goals and plans. Underserved and socially, economically, and racially disadvantaged communities bear the burden of pollution, higher energy costs, limited resources, and limited investments in the clean energy and transportation sectors.

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Japan’s SLIM moon lander has shockingly survived a third lunar night

New Scientist

Almost all moon landers break down during the extraordinary cold of lunar night, but Japan’s Smart Lander for Investigating Moon has astonishingly survived three nights

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Brazil's Attorney General Urges Investigation of Environmental Progress Founder Michael Shellenberger

Environmental Progress

Statement by Environmental Progress Founder and President Michael Shellenberger: “Brazil's Attorney General has just accused me of having committed a "probable" crime because I published the "Twitter Files - Brazil." It's a monstrous lie. President Lula is persecuting me because I exposed the government's illegal censorship. The Lula Government is spreading disinformation and ridiculous conspiracy theories that are easy to debunk, as I do in the video below.

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Why the New Climate Reg for Coal is a Perfectly Normal EPA Rule

Legal Planet

Is EPA’s new climate rule a sneaky effort to eliminate coal or a valid pollution standard? Some new arguments made by EPA convince me that it’s pursuing a time-tested approach to pollution control. It’s not that EPA is trying to grind down the industry. It’s that the economics of coal-fired plants are so fragile that a mild breeze would give them pneumonia.

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The White House’s Justice40 is Good and Can Be Better

Union of Concerned Scientists

Since the inception of the environmental justice (EJ) movement, EJ leaders have called for accountability by the federal government for meeting the needs of communities that for generations have been systematically excluded, environmentally overburdened, and starved of much needed and deserved resources. The federal government has responded in many ways over the ensuing decades, from the Government Accountability Office’s (GAO) original 1983 study on the siting of hazardous waste facilities, to

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Shaping a Resilient Future: Climate Impact on Vulnerable Populations

Speaker: Laurie Schoeman Director, Climate & Sustainability, Capital

As households and communities across the nation face challenges such as hurricanes, wildfires, drought, extreme heat and cold, and thawing permafrost and flooding, we are increasingly searching for ways to mitigate and prevent climate impacts. During this event, national climate and housing expert Laurie Schoeman will discuss topics including: The two paths for climate action: decarbonization and adaptation.

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Global warming could make tides higher as well as raising sea levels

New Scientist

In addition to the overall rise in sea level, the heights of tides are also changing as the oceans warm and separate into more distinct layers

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Low-Earth Orbit Faces a Spiraling Debris Threat

Scientific American

Millions of human-made objects travel at high speeds in low-Earth orbit, polluting space and increasing the chance of collision with satellites and other spacecraft

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Could Trump Cancel the IRA?

Legal Planet

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).

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Justice40 Can Be Strengthened with These 3 Fixes

Union of Concerned Scientists

Read part 1 of this blog post series on the White House’s initiative. In a previous blog post about the federal Government Accountability Office’s (GAO) recent report about how the White House can better implement its Justice40 initiative, I noted that the GAO should have said the program needs much more transparency at multiple levels. That is the first of three fixes that I and my former colleague and senior official at the EPA Matthew Tejada agree should have been recommended.

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Sustainability at Retail

Sustainability impacts every nation, company, and person around the world. So much so that, in 2015, the United Nations (UN) issued a call for action by all countries to work toward sustainable development. In response to this and as part of a global Sustainability at Retail initiative, Shop! worked collaboratively with its global affiliates to address these critical issues in this white paper.

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Has the US finally figured out how to do high-speed rail?

New Scientist

As work begins on building the US’s first high-speed rail service – linking Los Angeles to Las Vegas – analysts say the project could serve as a blueprint for similar projects across the country

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Glow-in-the-Dark Animals May Have Been Around for 540 Million Years

Scientific American

Ancestors of so-called “soft” corals may have developed bioluminescence in the earliest days of deep-ocean living

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Nixon Advisers’ Climate Research Plan: Another Lost Chance on the Road to Crisis

Inside Climate News

A 1971 plan for a global carbon dioxide monitoring network never came to fruition. The proposal is detailed in a document newly unearthed by the National Security Archive. By Marianne Lavelle In 1971, President Richard Nixon’s science advisers proposed a multimillion dollar climate change research project with benefits they said were too “immense” to be quantified, since they involved “ensuring man’s survival,” according to a White House document newly obtained by the nonprofit National Security

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Wednesday PA Environment & Energy NewsClips - 4.24.24

PA Environment Daily

“The people have a right to clean air, pure water, and to the preservation of the natural, scenic, historic and esthetic values of the environment. Pennsylvania's public natural resources are the common property of all the people, including generations yet to come. As trustee of these resources, the Commonwealth shall conserve and maintain them for the benefit of all the people.” - - Article I, Section 27 Pennsylvania Constitution [It’s Not A Suggestion] House next voting day April 29, 30, May 1

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Geoengineering could save the ice sheets – but only if we start soon

New Scientist

Shading the planet by spraying aerosols into the stratosphere might stave off ice sheet collapse, modelling studies suggest, but we are running out of time

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Hidden Fossil Fuels: Plastic Production Drives Climate Change

NRDC

Study shows that plastic production could be nearly one third of the global carbon budget and emits four times more greenhouse gases than the airline industry.

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How Temperate Forests Could Help Limit Climate Change

Scientific American

People understand how saving tropical forests is good for the planet, but temperate forests are equally indispensable in fighting climate change

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South Mountain Partnership Action Alert: Support Needed For New Michaux State Forest District Resource Center In Franklin County

PA Environment Daily

The South Mountain Partnership is requesting citizens to support the new Resources Management Center proposed for Michaux State Forest District to replace the current District Office in Franklin County. The chosen site is State Forest property that is currently leased to the South Mountain Golf Course. The new RMC will improve services in the South Mountain Conservation Landscape by better serving district forest needs, residents, and visitors.

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Some scientists say insects are conscious – it doesn't settle anything

New Scientist

A group of around 40 scientists signed a declaration calling for formal acknowledgement of consciousness in a range of animals, including insects and fish – but the evidence is still lacking

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Power Plant Carbon Rules: What’s Changed Since the 2023 Proposal?

NRDC

The EPA's finalized rules for carbon emissions from the power sector have just been released. Here's how they've evolved.

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After Months of Gibberish, Voyager 1 Is Communicating Well Again

Scientific American

NASA scientists spent months coaxing the 46-year-old Voyager 1 spacecraft back into healthy communication

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DEP Posted 93 Pages Of Permit-Related Notices In April 27 PA Bulletin

PA Environment Daily

Highlights of the environmental and energy notices in the April 27 PA Bulletin -- -- PA Oil & Gas Industrial Facilities: Permit Notices, Opportunities To Comment - April 27 [PaEN] -- The Department of Environmental Protection published notice in the April 27 PA Bulletin inviting public comments on a proposed declaration of an Exceptional Air Quality Event due to 2023 wildfires from Canada and New Jersey causing elevated levels of nitrogen oxides and volatile organic compounds impacting ozone

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Should we tweak the atmosphere to counteract global warming?

New Scientist

With severe climate impacts becoming more and more apparent, many scientists think we should explore ways to block out solar radiation, but doing so would be risky

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New Rule Ups Big Oil’s Financial Responsibility for Offshore Clean-up

NRDC

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management’s new rule takes a meaningful step towards holding industry accountable for the true costs of oil and gas drilling.

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People Keep Secrets Because They Overestimate Harsh Judgments

Scientific American

Research suggests that people tend to exaggerate how critically they will be viewed if they reveal negative information about themselves to others

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