Environment + Energy Leader

MARCH 13, 2023

The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), signed into law by President Joe Biden in August 2022, is widely considered to be the largest investment in combating climate change in U.S. history. It is a turning point in the country’s response to the climate crisis, and it is being watched closely by. Read more » The post Five Key Takeaways from the Inflation Reduction Act appeared first on Environment + Energy Leader.

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Union of Concerned Scientists

MARCH 15, 2023

Information spreads around the world faster than it ever has in human history due to innovations in technology. Ensuring that people have access to accurate information to make science-based and informed decisions is crucial for public health and safety. Because those who spread disinformation try to create the chaos of division, distraction, delays, and demoralization in order to disrupt democratic processes that can result in science-based solutions, underestimating the intent of false informa

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Legal Planet

MARCH 13, 2023

On Thursday, March 2, 2023, California’s principal energy agencies – the California Energy Commission (CEC) and the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) – held a first-of-its-kind, joint en banc hearing at Cal Poly Humboldt with Tribal government leaders and all 10 commissioners of the CEC and CPUC. In a world where on-the-ground collaboration between governments to address essential questions like climate change and energy security seem too few and far between, this hearing represented

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Circle of Blue

MARCH 15, 2023

Avoiding four common pitfalls for water-sector partnerships. The collaboration message was clear at COP27, the UN climate conference held in November 2022, in Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt. Photo © J. Carl Ganter/Circle of Blue By Lesley Pories, Global Water Partnership – March 15, 2022 Imagine this: you organize a large potluck dinner. You take great pains to get people to sign up for a dish – in some cases times telling your colleague which dish to bring, because they do it so well – and you ensure t

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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.

Clean Energy

Circle of Blue

MARCH 15, 2023

Global public opinion poll measures views on freshwater challenges. A woman reaches for a hose from a water tanker in Rajasthan, India. Temperatures on this day in 2016 exceeded 110 degrees Fahrenheit. Photo © J. Carl Ganter/Circle of Blue By Brett Walton, Circle of Blue – March 15, 2023 As the world’s weather flips more rapidly between the poles of too wet and too dry, the general public is taking notice.

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Real Climate

MARCH 16, 2023

We add some of the CMIP6 models to the updateable MSU comparisons. After my annual update , I was pointed to some MSU-related diagnostics for many of the CMIP6 models (24 of them at least) from Po-Chedley et al. (2022) courtesy of Ben Santer. These are slightly different to what we have shown for CMIP5 in that the diagnostic is the tropical corrected-TMT (following Fu et al., 2004 ) which is a better representation of the mid-troposphere than the classic TMT diagnostic through an adjustment usin

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Yale E360

MARCH 14, 2023

The Guarani Mbya people are working to restore the once-vast Atlantic Forest, which has been largely lost to development. Gaining official tenure of their lands, they hope, will boost their efforts, which range from planting native trees to reintroducing pollinators.

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Environment + Energy Leader

MARCH 13, 2023

The carbon calculator is an expansion of the existing “virtual farm” website, which allows users to tour two virtual farms of varying sizes and click on different aspects of the farm, such as housing, pastures, feed silos, and more, to learn about sustainability topics such as milk production, herd and nutrient management, crops and soils, and greenhouse gases.

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Legal Planet

MARCH 16, 2023

Evidence is mounting that air pollution regulation is an effective way of reducing health disparities between disadvantaged communities and the population as a whole. The basic reason is simple: Air pollution is the biggest environmental threat to poor communities and communities of color. As the American Lung Association has said : “The burden of air pollution is not evenly shared.

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Union of Concerned Scientists

MARCH 16, 2023

In a few days, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) will release its latest synthesis report that provides a comprehensive assessment of the current state of scientific knowledge on climate change, including its causes, impacts, and potential solutions. These reports reflect how the world has responded, or failed to respond, to climate change.

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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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Yale E360

MARCH 16, 2023

Faced with embargoes of Russian oil and gas, Europe ramped up production of solar and wind power, got serious about energy conservation, and tweaked policies to speed its green transition. Despite fears of increased emissions, the EU remained on track to meet its climate goals.

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Environment + Energy Leader

MARCH 15, 2023

New Belgium Brewing is committed to solving climate change, saying that extreme weather events — such as droughts — hurt its product: beer. Water is the main component of beer, and a lack of water hurts barley crops. The post New Belgium Brewing Is Toasting to its Sustainability Skills appeared first on Environment + Energy Leader.

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Legal Planet

MARCH 15, 2023

Photo by Desolation Hiker via Flickr (CC-BY-NC 2.0) Creator: Christian Arballo Air quality officials in the San Francisco Bay Area just made history by moving to adopt the nation’s first rules phasing out new gas-fueled water heaters and furnaces in homes and businesses within about eight years. This action serves as a major step in the effort to curb health-harming and planet-warming emissions from buildings.

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Union of Concerned Scientists

MARCH 16, 2023

On Monday, March 20, the IPCC will be publicly releasing a report synthesizing the latest climate science, the culmination of its sixth assessment cycle. With global heat-trapping emissions still on the rise and millions of people across the world still reeling from last year’s deadly and costly climate-related disasters , this report provides a distillation of all that scientists are bearing witness to, a collective howl for action, albeit delivered in precise technical terms.

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Advertisement

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.

Sustainable Development

Yale E360

MARCH 15, 2023

As the planet rapidly approaches 1.5 degrees C of warming, scientists warn that rising temperatures are degrading the Earth's ability to soak up carbon dioxide, threatening to further exacerbate climate change. To keep warming in check, they stress, countries must make steep cuts to emissions in the next few years.

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Environment + Energy Leader

MARCH 15, 2023

Community solar projects are an increasingly popular way for individuals and businesses to access solar energy without having to install solar panels on their own property. The post Scale Microgrids Announces Acquisition of Over 100 MW of Community Solar Projects in NY appeared first on Environment + Energy Leader.

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Legal Planet

MARCH 16, 2023

Beginning today, California’s “Little Hoover Commission” will convene a series of three public hearings to consider how well–or poorly–the state’s California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) is currently working. A special focus of the Commission’s deliberations will be whether and to what extent California’s most important and overarching environmental law is impeding efforts by the Legislature and Governor Newsom to address the state’s chr

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Union of Concerned Scientists

MARCH 17, 2023

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is set to release its synthesis of the Sixth Assessment Report early next week. Among the thousands of questions the report addresses by summarizing the latest climate research, one of the most hotly debated is this: Is it still possible to limit future global warming to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels?

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Yale E360

MARCH 17, 2023

A Swiss start-up will install solar panels on a railway in western Switzerland, pending approval from transportation officials.

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Environment + Energy Leader

MARCH 17, 2023

Latin America is embarking on a new era of renewable energy, led by commitments to wind and solar utility-scale projects by Led by Brazil, Chile, and Columbia. The post Latin America Set to Become Global Energy Giant Through Renewables appeared first on Environment + Energy Leader.

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Legal Planet

MARCH 15, 2023

This past year has been big for cap-and-trade-style systems, and that momentum looks like it’s continuing in 2023. Recently, we’ve seen new programs start up in Oregon and Washington, a proposal in New York State for new carbon markets, and sustained high prices in existing programs in California and the Northeast. Although these programs differ in their details, they all attempt to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions cost-effectively by creating a market for permissions to emit—called “allowances”—

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Union of Concerned Scientists

MARCH 15, 2023

I was an Agricultural Engineer. Well, technically I still am, but years ago, when I was in graduate school and discovered advocacy, I started working at the system level. Now, I am a SocioEnvironmental Systems Engineer. Understanding the environment holistically has helped me see the web of intersecting problems and challenges that we experience nowadays in California, especially in how most agriculture is practiced.

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Law and Environment

MARCH 17, 2023

On February 10, 2023, the Public Land Preservation Act (PLPA), Chapter 274 of the Acts of 2022 , ( M.G.L. Ch. 3 §5A ), went into effect. It both codifies existing practices and creates new obligations that public entities in the Commonwealth must follow to dispose or change the use of interests in land protected by Article 97 of the Massachusetts Constitution.

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Environment + Energy Leader

MARCH 16, 2023

As our world expands, the need for food increases due to our population growth. However, with limited resources for farming, including land and water, concerns about food growth have been on the minds of scientists for years. Algae and Climate Change The potential of algae as a sustainable source of. Read more » The post CO2 Utilization in Algae Farming for Sustainable Food Production appeared first on Environment + Energy Leader.

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Legal Planet

MARCH 15, 2023

Solar geoengineering has been prominent in the news lately. It looks like the long-predicted spike of attention to these potential climate responses may finally be starting – with many attendant opportunities for controversy and confusion. For background on solar geoengineering, why it’s important to research, and what the debates over it are, check out various prior LP posting from Emmett Institute researchers here , here , here , here , here , and here.

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Union of Concerned Scientists

MARCH 14, 2023

Last week, hundreds of farmers and their allies from across the country gathered at the Rally for Resilience to advocate for a Food and Farm Bill that confronts the climate crisis head-on. They were joined by longtime farm advocates John Mellencamp and Willie Nelson, as well as partners from two dozen organizations including the Union of Concerned Scientists.

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Yale E360

MARCH 13, 2023

Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani has announced plans to plant 5 million trees to help the country cope with climate change.

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Environment + Energy Leader

MARCH 15, 2023

The Comprehensive Urban Agriculture Plan (CUAP) provides a long-term strategy for expanding urban agriculture in the city, especially in marginalized communities with less access to healthy, local food. The post City of Dallas Develops Plan for More Resilient Urban Agriculture appeared first on Environment + Energy Leader.

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Legal Planet

MARCH 16, 2023

As California continues to develop plans for floating offshore wind (OSW) implementation, state leaders have an opportunity to forge a national example on stakeholder engagement and energy justice. California can achieve this, not just by (for example) incorporating environmental justice (EJ) principles into agency analysis and planning or by increasing consultation with tribal entities, but by ensuring — and ensuring funding for — a seat at planning and implementation tables for communities (in

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Union of Concerned Scientists

MARCH 14, 2023

Late last month, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) asked the public to provide oral comments on a major rule that will determine how much soot pollution you are exposed to. Among the commenters was my colleague Sam Wilson , who passionately and effectively called on the EPA to follow the science and enact the strongest air pollution standards to protect people’s health.

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NRDC

MARCH 16, 2023

The Biden administration’s proposal to prohibit new oil and gas leasing and drilling in the area comes after years of exploitation that’s had devastating health and cultural impacts on Indigenous communities.

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Environment + Energy Leader

MARCH 17, 2023

In recent years, the importance of eco-friendly waste management has become more apparent than ever. However, not all waste management facilities operate with environmental responsibility in mind. The post Fire at Alabama Landfill Raises Concern About Gaps in Regulations. appeared first on Environment + Energy Leader.

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New Scientist

MARCH 14, 2023

Brain organoids grown in a lab can be used to perform basic computation tasks, but there are big unanswered questions about how far this approach should be taken

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Union of Concerned Scientists

MARCH 16, 2023

On March 14, 2023, I testified before the Minnesota House of Representatives Environment and Natural Resources Committee in support of a cumulative impacts bill. Should it become statute, this bill would give additional regulatory authority to the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (the state regulatory agency) to limit or deny an environmental permit if the proposal would result in significant additions to the cumulative environmental and public health stressors around the facility.

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