2022

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Congress Releases New Evidence of Big Oil Climate Disinformation

Union of Concerned Scientists

As part of its ongoing investigation of fossil fuel industry climate disinformation, the US House of Representatives Committee on Oversight and Reform released more than 200 pages of internal corporate documents last month that provide new evidence of industry deception. Among the more startling revelations, the documents show that oil and gas corporation executives acknowledged in private emails that their companies’ climate pledges and professed solutions cannot deliver swift and deep cuts in

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Danger Looms Where Toxic Algae Blooms

Circle of Blue

Danger Looms Where Toxic Algae Blooms Billions spent on strategies to limit nutrient pollution that don’t work. By Keith Schneider, Circle of Blue. Photographs by J. Carl Ganter, Circle of Blue. September 8, 2022 . First of a six-part series. TOLEDO — Just as Great Lakes scientists anticipated, the first blue-green swirls of a mammoth toxic algae bloom surfaced in mid-July in the nearshore waters of Lake Erie, between Monroe, Michigan, and this Ohio port city of 275,000.

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Phantom Forests: Failed Planting Projects Hinder Climate Goals

Yale E360

High-profile initiatives to plant millions of trees are being touted by governments around the world as major contributions to fighting climate change. But scientists say many of these projects are ill-conceived and poorly managed and often fail to grow any forests at all. Read more on E360 ?.

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Is Agrochemical Contamination Killing Nebraska’s Children?

Circle of Blue

Is Agrochemical Contamination Killing Nebraska’s Children? The harrowing trail of toxic nutrients in farm country water. By Brett Walton, Circle of Blue – February 2, 2022. Photography and videography by J. Carl Ganter. AURORA, Neb. — In the final, frantic hours Jacob Peters’s body gave out. As nurses worked to stabilize his vitals, his blood pressure dropped.

2016 364
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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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Ask a Scientist: What’s Up With the Attack on ESG Investing?

Union of Concerned Scientists

Officials at the state and federal level have launched a full-court press against what the financial industry calls “environmental, social and governance” (ESG) investing. They are especially squawking about investments that take into account the climate crisis, despite the fact that extreme weather events are wreaking havoc across the country. Since the summer of 2021, five Republican-controlled state legislatures have passed bills banning their state governments from doing business with financ

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Glass Packaging Receives Positive Consumer Response

Environment + Energy Leader

A survey from the Glass Packaging Institute shows they would consider buying from companies that use the materials. The post Glass Packaging Receives Positive Consumer Response appeared first on Environment + Energy Leader.

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Genetically modified tobacco plant produces cocaine in its leaves

New Scientist

Researchers have reproduced the entire biochemical pathway for how coca plants make cocaine in another plant, which could help people manufacture the drug for scientific study

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Join the Grassroots Movement to Protect Ontario’s Environment

Enviromental Defense

Since the provincial government launched their latest round of attacks on Ontario’s environment in November of this year, there has been unprecedented public opposition to Bill 23 and the Greenbelt removals. We’ve mapped at least 85 different rallies between November 15th and December 13th from Windsor to North Bay to Ottawa. This movement has caught the attention of politicians and the media and is building new connections between environmental organizers throughout the province.

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Meet the Idiomysis Shrimp, the Social Butterfly of the Ocean

Ocean Conservancy

Recently, while looking at underwater macro photography, I stumbled across an adorable type of shrimp that I had never seen before. Their bulging eyes and tiny, colorful bodies were simply too cute to handle. I wanted to learn more. Surprisingly, a Google (and even Bing!) search showed me that there is very little written about these interesting critters.

Ocean 145
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Deep learning identifies head-on collisions in LHC data

Physics World

Deep learning could hold the key to making sense of proton collisions generated in the world’s premier particle accelerator. That is the message from physicists in Europe and the US who have shown how an algorithm developed for language translation can efficiently filter out noise from data taken by detectors at at CERN’s Large Hadron Collider.

2027 145
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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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Common steroids after ‘long Covid’ recovery may cut risk of death by up to 51%

Frontiers

By Mischa Dijkstra, Frontiers science writer. Researchers show that severe inflammation during hospitalization for Covid-19 increases risk of death within one year from seeming recovery by 61%. This risk is reduced again by 51% if anti-inflammatory steroids are prescribed upon discharge. We need to think of Covid-19 as a potentially chronic disease that requires long-term management, argue the authors.

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About

PBS Nature

Vast, wild and remote, the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) is where some of the world’s greatest wildlife spectacles unfold. Situated in the northeast corner of Alaska, this refuge has long-protected survivors of the Ice Age that still roam a frozen wilderness. The Porcupine caribou herd traverses all of it on the longest land-animal migration on Earth, witnessing extraordinary wildlife moments along the way.

Ocean 145
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In Bolivia, Mercury Pollution Spreads Amid a Surge in Gold Mining

Yale E360

A boom in small-scale gold mining in Bolivia has raised concerns about pollution from mercury used in the mining process. Researchers are citing the health impacts on downstream villages, but the government has yet to act to stem the widespread use of the highly toxic chemical. Read more on E360 →.

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Risky Drinking Water Pathogen Has Outsized Effect on Black Americans

Circle of Blue

A new analysis shows that rising Legionnaires’ disease cases disproportionately affect Black Americans and people living in the Midwest, Mid-Atlantic, and New England. An aerial view of New York City. Rooftop cooling towers play a major role in fostering and spreading Legionella bacteria. Photo by Vincenzo Di Giorgi on Unsplash. By Brett Walton, Circle of Blue – February 24, 2022.

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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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It’s About Damn Time to Have a Black Woman on the US Supreme Court

Union of Concerned Scientists

At President Biden’s first State of the Union address, he can tout a historic promise he kept from the campaign trail in 2020: his nomination of Ketanji Brown Jackson to become the 116th Associate Justice of the US Supreme Court. Standing on the shoulders of the likes of Constance Baker Motley and many others, she […].

2020 364
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IoT in Smart Cities Market To More Than Double By 2026, Says MarketsandMarkets

Environment + Energy Leader

The IoT, or internet of things sector describes physical objects embedded with technology such as sensors, computers, and software that allow data about them to be collected and communicated. The post IoT in Smart Cities Market To More Than Double By 2026, Says MarketsandMarkets appeared first on Environment + Energy Leader.

2026 363
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The water south of Greenland has been cooling, so what causes that?

Real Climate

Sea surface temperature trend 1993 – 2018, from European Atlas of the Seas. Let’s compare two possibilities by a back-of-envelope calculation. (1) Is it due to a reduced heat transport of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC)? (2) Or is it simply due to the influx of cold meltwater as the Greenland Ice Sheet is losing ice? The latter is often suggested.

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Pedestrian-friendly cities have lower rates of diabetes and obesity

New Scientist

A review of 170 studies finds consistent evidence that people are less likely to be obese or have diabetes if they live in cities where walking and cycling is safe and convenient

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Ontario can’t build Highway 413…yet 

Enviromental Defense

The fight to stop Highway 413 isn’t over – it’s just beginning. . Despite running on a platform to pave over a chunk of the Greenbelt and thousands of acres of prime farmland, the re-elected Ontario government can’t start building Highway 413…yet. That’s because just over a year ago, the Federal Minister of Environment and Climate Change designated Highway 413 under the Impact Assessment Act.

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Meet the Blue Dragon

Ocean Conservancy

Earlier this month a man in Texas took a video of a curious creature he found on the beach. Not knowing what it was, he took a video and uploaded it to Reddit where it was immediately identified as a cute but venomous creature: Glaucus atlanticus. This creature goes by many common names including sea swallow, blue ocean slug, blue angel and our personal favorite, blue dragon.

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Gravitational waves from merging black-hole ‘atom’ could reveal new particles

Physics World

Evidence for a new type of subatomic particle could be lurking within the gravitational waves produced by some merging black holes, according to calculations by physicists in the US and the Netherlands. John Stout at Harvard University and colleagues have studied a process whereby a cloud of hypothetical ultralight bosons could form around a black hole, creating a “gravitational atom”.

2015 145
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This sustainable solar oven allows rural communities to cook without coal or firewood

Frontiers

By K.E.D. Coan, science writer. Image: Riccardo Mayer/Shutterstock.com. A new design for a solar cooking system may help rural communities prepare food more sustainably, reports a new study. The materials used in this system should be easily accessible for people in places where there are few options besides burning wood or coal. Engineers in Nigeria have developed an improved solar cooking system that is designed to replace cooking over fires made with coal, wood, or other materials, reports a

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What Is Spacetime Really Made Of?

Scientific American

Spacetime may emerge from a more fundamental reality. Figuring out how could unlock the most urgent goal in physics—a quantum theory of gravity. -- Read more on ScientificAmerican.com.

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Why Are Nature-Based Solutions on Climate Being Overlooked?

Yale E360

Nature-based initiatives, such as planting mangroves and revitalizing wetlands, have proven effective in making communities more resilient to climate change. But international funding has shortchanged such solutions in favor of more costly and less efficient engineering projects. Read more on E360 ?.

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IPCC Climate Report: Six Key Findings for Water

Circle of Blue

Scientific body warns of ‘rapidly closing window’ for action. A woman reaches for a hose from a water tanker in Rajasthan, India. Temperatures on this day in July 2016 exceeded 110 degrees Fahrenheit. Photo © J. Carl Ganter/Circle of Blue. By Brett Walton, Circle of Blue – March 1, 2022. The United Nations climate panel issued a blunt and urgent warning to the world on Monday.

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A 100% Renewable Energy Future is Possible, and We Need It

Union of Concerned Scientists

We’re living in a time of high volatility in the price of gas that has hit close to all sectors of our economy. We’re also living in a time plagued with costly ”this is not normal” weather events. Indeed, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has just warned us of the decisive fate that this decade represents to act on climate for us and all the species that we depend on.

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Personal Care Brands Partner to Fight Plastic Pollution

Environment + Energy Leader

One hundred personal care brands based in more than 15 countries are partnering in an effort to remove 4127 tons of plastic waste every year. The post Personal Care Brands Partner to Fight Plastic Pollution appeared first on Environment + Energy Leader.

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Another dot on the graphs (Part II)

Real Climate

We have now updated the model-observations comparison page for the 2021 SAT and MSU TMT datasets. Mostly this is just ‘another dot on the graphs’ but we have made a couple of updates of note. First, we have updated the observational products to their latest versions (i.e. HadCRUT5, NOAA-STAR 4.1 etc.), though we are still using NOAA’s GlobalTemp v5 – the Interim version will be available later this year.

2020 347
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Solar storms may cause up to 5500 heart-related deaths in a given year

New Scientist

In an approximate 11-year cycle, the sun blasts out charged particles and magnetised plasma that can distort Earth’s magnetic field, which may disrupt our body clock and ultimately affect the heart

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The End of the Greenbelt? How doing what York Region demands would mark its end

Enviromental Defense

Recently, York Region voted to seek provincial government approval for their draft Regional Official Plan. Shockingly, this draft plan proposes to allow development on the Oak Ridges Moraine portion of the Greenbelt. The draft plan violates the Provincial Planning Act that mandates that municipalities must complete and submit plans that comply with provincial law, policies and plans.

2005 145
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What is the Plural of Octopus?

Ocean Conservancy

What has eight arms, three hearts, uses camouflage and has a very confusing plural form? The octopus! . The English language can be quite puzzling at times. As a mother of two boys, we have LEGO tiles all over the house. And while there are hundreds of LEGO on the floor that I have to tiptoe around, please notice the plural of LEGO is still LEGO. Confusing?

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Weather satellite sheds light on ‘Great Dimming’ of Betelgeuse star

Physics World

A weather satellite has helped explain why the red supergiant star Betelgeuse experienced an unprecedented dimming in 2019–20. Its findings corroborate earlier studies that concluded the dimming was the consequence of a lower-temperature spot on the star, which reduced the heat going to a nearby gas cloud. This, astronomers believe, allowed the cloud to cool and condense into dust that blocked some of Betelgeuse’s light.

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Eating vegetables does not protect against cardiovascular disease, finds large-scale study

Frontiers

By Mischa Dijkstra, Frontiers science writer. A long-term ‘UK Biobank’ study on almost 400,000 people finds little or no evidence that differences in the amount of consumed cooked or uncooked vegetables affects the risk of cardiovascular disease. When known socio-economic and lifestyle confounding factors are corrected for, the small apparent positive effect that remains could likely also be explained away by further confounders.

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Guest Post: Climate Litigation in Japan: Citizens’ Attempts for the Coal Phase-Out

Law Columbia

By Yumeno Grace Nishikawa, LLM*. The Supreme Court of Japan may soon weigh in on a growing field of climate litigation in Japan against coal-fired power plants. On May 6, 2022, the Citizens’ Committee on the Kobe Coal-Fired Power Plant filed an appeal to Japan’s Supreme Court in Citizens’ Committee on the Kobe Coal-Fired Power Plant v. Japan , their case challenging the legality of a governmental approval that allows for the construction and operation of new coal-fired power plants.