Post of the Day
A climate in crisis calls for investment in direct air capture, new research finds
Wartime-level funding for a fleet of carbon dioxide scrubbers could slow warming, but stopping climate change still requires deep cuts in emissions
On This Day
January 17
Martyrdom of Fatimah – Islam
Climate Change
Climate impacts on health and urban areas: Heatwaves and death rate
Heat does not kill in the same way everywhere. Urban planning, social cohesion, traffic, crime: the urban and social context can worsen the vulnerability of individuals to heatwaves, with differences even within the same city.
A climate in crisis calls for investment in direct air capture, new research finds
Wartime-level funding for a fleet of carbon dioxide scrubbers could slow warming, but stopping climate change still requires deep cuts in emissions
Human-induced climate change caused the northwestern Pacific warming record in August 2020
A new study revealed that the record-warm sea surface temperature over the northwestern Pacific in August 2020 could not be expected to occur without human-induced climate changes. Such extremely warm condition is likely to become a new normal climate in August by the mid-21st century, needing the prompt implementation of adaptation measures for anthropogenic global warming.
Carbon capture is vital to meeting climate goals, scientists tell green critics
Supporters insist that storage technology is not a costly mistake but the best way for UK to cut emissions from heavy industry
National
There are 1.4 million Australian homes using wastewater treatment systems and new regulations could force thousands of them to install an electrical system that is more expensive to run and uses more water than some environmentally friendly alternatives.
The biggest Coalition conspiracy theory is climate change denial
Greg Jericho
MPs’ unfounded claims about the US Capitol attack and Covid treatments pale next to the granddaddy of misinformation
New South Wales
Are partially protected areas the ‘red herrings’ of marine conservation?
Partially protected marine areas create confusion and don’t meet their broad conservation objectives, UNSW researchers have found.
How Sydney’s bold cycleway plans are helping shed its anti-bike stigma – video
For years Sydney had earned a reputation as an anti-cycling city. Long-running disagreements between the City of Sydney council and the NSW government slowed cycleway construction, and in 2015 the separated bike path along College Street in the city centre was ripped up. But now attitudes are changing and the pace of building has rapidly increased, hastened by the Covid lockdown in 2020.
ACT
Icon Water warn drier and hotter summers could put pressure on supplies
Following extreme temperatures and two of Australia’s driest years on record, water storage levels across the ACT dropped below 45 per cent last summer, causing Icon Water to warn against impending water restrictions this time last year.
Queensland
Deadly white spot virus killing prawns and crabs in the wild
The exotic white spot disease that devastated South-East Queensland prawn farms is now killing wild prawns and small crabs around the Logan River and has become widespread in parts of Moreton Bay.
South Australia
Lake Torrens drilling approval by SA Premier prompts Greens calls to change heritage laws
A contentious minerals exploration project in outback South Australia, approved by the Premier, is prompting calls for a change to heritage laws.
Northern Territory
Territorians will not be asked to pay to make day trips to parks such as Litchfield and Nitmiluk, the NT government has insisted, although plans are in the pipeline to begin charging interstate visitors.
Western Australia
Homes, shed engulfed by flames as raging bushfire tears through Casuarina
At least one shed has caught fire and properties are under threat in Oakford and Casuarina.
Sustainability
Big freeze exposes Asia’s underlying energy crisis
While freezing temperatures triggered the crisis, they have also exposed an underlying lack of resilience in regional energy systems caused by the rapid transition to gas for space heating and power generation
German hard coal imports could fall by a fifth in 2021
The 2021 decline will mark the sixth consecutive year in which imports have dropped and brings the full-year result down to about half of the 57.2 million tonnes recorded in 2016
2021: The year the rubber meets the road for electric trucks
With new models, political momentum, falling costs, and progress on charging stations, 2021 is expected to be a year of significant progress for electric truck deployment. The third RMI and NACFE Run on Less trucking demonstration will focus on electric trucking, with 10 dedicated trucks and drivers reporting real-time data to show the current state of electric trucking technology in the freight industry.
Three steps to green fuel: How China can achieve carbon-neutral transport by 2060
Despite the huge potential for carbon emissions mitigation, achieving carbon neutrality in China’s transportation sector is fraught with challenges. The nation must seize the golden opportunity in the decade ahead by utilizing solutions such as EVs and high-speed railways to quickly achieve peak road transport emissions.
US fishing and seafood industries saw broad declines last summer due to COVID-19
The US fishing and seafood sector years generated more than $200 billion in annual sales and supported 1.7 million jobs in recent years. It experienced broad declines in 2020 as a result of the COVID-19 public health crisis, according to a new NOAA Fisheries analysis released today.
A remediation and public education effort at an abandoned battery recycling facility in Bangladesh eliminated most lead soil contamination, but levels of the toxic metal in children living near the site did not decrease nearly as much. The discrepancy reveals the scope of other lead exposure sources and the challenge they present to public health.
Climate change doesn’t spare the insects
Entomologists have seen a striking contraction of insect numbers and diversity. They are sharing new data suggesting that climate change is the culprit and they are coming up with a way to protect the survivors: a bioliteracy program that aims to educate Costa Rican residents about the diversity around them and empower them to conserve it. It’s a model they hope catches on and spreads around the globe.
Outcry as Trump officials to transfer sacred Native American land to miners
Critics condemn ‘callous betrayal’ after Trump officials set in motion transfer of Oak Flat to Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton
Meet the creepy critters of the ‘twilight zone’ that help cleanse the ocean and store carbon
Rarely seen creatures from the depths of the Southern Ocean’s “twilight zone” are helping to shed light on how the ocean stores carbon, the role they play in storing carbon themselves and how climate change could impact it.
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