Sat.Sep 07, 2024 - Fri.Sep 13, 2024

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Community Solar: The Systemwide Benefits

Legal Planet

Electricity regulation has traditionally been defined by a relatively narrow public interest prerogative: ensuring just and reasonable rates for reliable electric service. The call to decarbonize, however, has injected a new diversity of values into the conversation. Transforming the electric power system to reduce greenhouse gas emissions is opening new opportunities to elevate values like community or public ownership and resource conservation as well.

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Hottest Summer on Record May Be Ending, but Fight to Protect Workers from Heat Is Far from Over

Union of Concerned Scientists

Over the last three months, which have been declared the world’s hottest summer on record, outdoor workers across the US have endured dangerously hot conditions on the job. They’ve cut grass in 112°F heat in California’s Coachella Valley, handled baggage on the hot tarmac of airports across the country, harvested fruit , delivered packages , and performed countless other functions that go largely unnoticed by our society.

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How Agroforestry Could Help Revitalize America’s Corn Belt

Yale E360

By practicing agroforestry — growing trees alongside crops and livestock, for example — farmers can improve soils, produce nutrient-rich foods, and build resilience to climate change. Now, a movement is emerging to bring this approach to the depleted lands of the Corn Belt.

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DREAM…THEN ACT!

Cleannovate

It’s OK to dream. But it takes more to start moving towards achieving it. Too often do we let ideas bounce off our heads without action. But have you ever thought of picking up and running with that one idea to its logical end? Well, it’s good to be a think tank – churning up those ideas per minute. But it’s better to pick one or two and create something out of it.

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The Key to Sustainable Energy Optimization: A Data-Driven Approach for Manufacturing

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. 📊 Join us for a practical webinar hosted by Kevin Kai Wong of Emergent Ene

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“Salt Lakes in Crisis: Legal Responses to Ecological Catastrophes”

Legal Planet

The Great Shrinking Salt Lake (credit: NASA Earth Observatory) On Friday, September 20th, the student-run U.C. Davis Law Review will host a most timely conference examining an environmental crisis facing many of the American West’s iconic “terminal lakes.” That term refers to lakes that have no natural outlet. For many years, protracted droughts and human diversions from freshwater rivers and streams feeding those lakes have combined to reduce lake levels dramatically and sign

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How Do You Talk to Children about Climate Change? One Book Has a Few Ideas

Union of Concerned Scientists

Science communication is strengthened when we use creative approaches. Art is such a powerful tool for this, especially when communicating to kids. Last year, I met Dave Schneider, a climate scientist who studies ice sheets and climate systems, work very similar to my own. He recently published a children’s book titled Goodnight Fossil Fuels! that’s specifically about climate change and fossil fuel accountability.

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Greenland landslide caused freak wave that shook Earth for nine days

New Scientist

Seismologists were mystified by a strange signal that persisted for nine days in 2023 – now its source has been identified as a standing wave caused by a landslide in Greenland

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Environmental Lawyering Today

Legal Planet

Earthjustice has a great motto: “Because the earth needs a good lawyer.” People tend to equate environmental lawyering with working for Earthjustice or another environmental group like the NRDC. And that’s a great way that lawyers can help the environment. But it’s far from being the only way. In fact, groups like Earthjustice account for only a small fraction of environmental lawyers.

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Ask A Scientist: How Can Science and Data Inform Fairer, Freer Elections?

Union of Concerned Scientists

Many democracies around the world require every eligible voter to fulfill their civic duty and cast their votes during national elections. If you were an Australian, Belgian, Singaporean, or Uruguayan citizen eligible to vote in your country’s elections, you could even expect to incur a fine from the government for failing to do so. Some countries set their election dates on weekends or declare national holidays so that more voters can participate.

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In a First, Brazilian City Grants Legal Rights to Waves

Yale E360

The city of Linhares, Brazil, has granted legal personhood to the waves at the mouth of the Dolce River, the first instance in which a government has conferred rights upon part of the ocean.

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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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Scientists Will Engineer the Ocean to Absorb More Carbon Dioxide

Scientific American

A research consortium plans to revive geoengineering trials of the controversial iron fertilization technique to pull carbon dioxide from the air, despite public backlash

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Ig Nobel prizes 2024: The unexpected science that won this year

New Scientist

From drunk worms to mammals that breath through their anuses, founder Marc Abrahams on the winners of this year's Ig Nobel prizes, for research that "makes people laugh, then think"

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Has Gasoline Use in California Peaked?

Union of Concerned Scientists

Despite adding six million more passenger cars, trucks, and SUVs to the roads over the last 10 years, California’s gasoline consumption has dropped over two billion gallons from its peak in 2005. More efficient (and cleaner) gasoline cars are part of the reason why gasoline use is down, but the increasing number of electric vehicles being sold in the state will likely drive gasoline use down even further.

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Peru Sees Growing Attacks on Environmental Defenders

Yale E360

Indigenous Peruvians have long faced violent attacks by miners, loggers, coca growers, and drug traffickers, but a troubling new report finds that murders of environmental defenders are on the rise.

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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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Why This Great Mathematician Wanted a Heptadecagon on His Tombstone

Scientific American

Mathematician Gauss left behind a trophy case of mathematical achievements to highlight on his tombstone, but above all he wanted a regular heptadecagon etched on it

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Chronic fatigue syndrome could be quickly diagnosed via a blood test

New Scientist

Levels of certain cells, fatty molecules and proteins in the blood are different in people with chronic fatigue syndrome than in those without it, which could help doctors spot the condition sooner

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Hope for North America’s Most Endangered Bird

Inside Climate News

The Florida grasshopper sparrow was near extinction only a few years ago. The recent release of the 1,000th captive-raised sparrow into the wild has rekindled optimism. By Amy Green On a recent morning, 10 Florida grasshopper sparrows, tiny brown-speckled birds that are the most endangered on the continent, took their first scampers and flaps on the state’s central prairie.

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PA Oil & Gas Industrial Facilities: Permit Notices, Opportunities To Comment - September 14

PA Environment Daily

The following notices were published in the September 14 PA Bulletin related to oil and gas industry facilities. Many of the notices offer the opportunity for public comments. Land Recycling/Brownfield Cleanups -- Coterra Energy, Inc. - D.Lewis Shale Gas Well Pad: DEP received a Final Report on remediation of soil contaminated with an oil-based drilling mud to meet the Statewide Health and Background Standards at the pad located in Bridgewater Twp., Susquehanna County. ( PA Bulletin, page 5902 )

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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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The Devil in the Details, Chapter One: The Doctor Who Said No to Thalidomide

Scientific American

Starting with her rejection of an FDA application for thalidomide in 1960, physician and pharmacist Frances Oldham Kelsey took a stand against the now infamous drug

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Complex chemicals found on Enceladus improve prospects for life

New Scientist

The Cassini mission’s samples from Saturn’s moon Enceladus have signs of various organic molecules that could be among the ingredients needed for life to get started

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Media Advisory: Ontario Healthcare Professionals and Environmental Advocates are Rallying this Weekend to Demand Better Public Healthcare not Greenbelt Highways

Enviromental Defense

Toronto | Traditional territories of the Mississaugas of the Credit, the Anishinaabeg, the Haudenosaunee, and the Wendat – As Ontario grapples with emergency room closures, a critical shortage of nurses, family doctors, and other health professionals, the provincial government is planning to spend tens of billions of taxpayer dollars on two controversial highway projects that would cut through the Greenbelt — Highway 413 and the Bradford Bypass.

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Groundbreaking Initiative Using Drones To Locate Orphan, Abandoned Conventional Oil & Gas Wells In Pennsylvania Kicks Off

PA Environment Daily

On September 12, the Environmental Defense Fund , in partnership with Moms Clean Air Force , the Department of Environmental Protection, the US Department of Energy, and McGill University, announced it has launched an ambitious project to identify and facilitate remediation of orphan and abandoned oil and gas wells across Western Pennsylvania. This project, which focuses on Clarion, Venango, and McKean Counties, will deploy drones equipped with magnetic sensors to detect these wells, many of whi

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The First Person to Receive an Eye and Face Transplant Is Recovering Well

Scientific American

A man who received a partial face and eye transplant after a serious accident does not have any vision in the transplanted eye, but the eye itself is still alive

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A fresh understanding of OCD is opening routes to new treatments

New Scientist

We're finally pinning down the mechanisms that drive obsessive-compulsive disorder, revealing a complex combination of imbalanced brain networks, the immune system and even gut microbes

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Southern California Blaze Spawns 'Fire Clouds'

Yale E360

The Line Fire in Southern California is giving rise to massive billowing "fire clouds.

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California Legislature Passes Food Date Labeling Standardization

NRDC

California is aiming to standardize food date labels with the passage of AB 660 (Irwin). The bill is now awaiting signature from Governor Newsom.

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A New Quantum Cheshire Cat Thought Experiment Is Out of the Box

Scientific American

The spin of a particle seems to detach and move without a body—a strange experimental observation that’s stirring up debate

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Another extreme low for Antarctic sea ice signals a permanent shift

New Scientist

An area of missing Antarctic sea ice twice the size of Texas adds to concerns that the ice has seen a lasting “regime shift”, with consequences for ecosystems and global ocean circulation

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Another Midwest Drought Is Causing Transportation Headaches on the Mississippi River

Inside Climate News

Abnormally dry conditions have caused low water levels that disrupt barge transports carrying fuel and grain. Climatologists say it could be part of a larger trend. By Kristoffer Tigue For the third year in a row, extreme drought conditions in the Midwest are drawing down water levels on the Mississippi River, raising prices for companies that transport goods downstream and forcing governments and business owners to seek alternative solutions.

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State Food Laws Enacted in 2024

National Law Center

The 2024 state legislative sessions were teeming with bill proposals and enactments that touched a variety of food law issues. A. The post State Food Laws Enacted in 2024 appeared first on National Agricultural Law Center.

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How Forensic Scientists Continue to Identify 9/11 Victims 23 Years after the Attacks

Scientific American

Forensic scientists are still working to identify victims of the 9/11 attacks using advancements in technology and techniques developed over the past two decades.

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Cats have brain activity recorded with the help of crocheted hats

New Scientist

Custom-made wool caps have enabled scientists to record electroencephalograms in awake cats for the first time, which could help assess their pain levels

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DEP Posted 82 Pages Of Permit-Related Notices In September 14 PA Bulletin

PA Environment Daily

Highlights of the environmental and energy notices in the September 14 PA Bulletin -- -- PA Oil & Gas Industrial Facilities: Permit Notices, Opportunities To Comment - September 14 [PaEN] -- The Public Utility Commission published notice in the September 14 PA Bulletin of the availability of the Final Public Utility-Owned Hazardous Liquid Pipeline Safety Standards.