Because of the amount of news over the holiday period, I presented the national news yesterday. Today the international news. Normal service will resume tomorrow.
Post of the Day
Amid 2020’s gloom, there are reasons to be hopeful about the climate in 2021
John Sauven
The concerted global response to the pandemic could be replicated for the fight against the climate crisis
On This Day
Guru Gobind Singh’s Birthday – Sikhism
Ecological Observance
National Bird Day – USA
Climate Change
Carbon capture is not a climate savior
The promise of negative emissions is baked into most “net zero” pledges. But putting that into practice is easier said than done.
Why Japan’s net zero pledge is a colossal task [$]
The biggest buyer of Australia’s coal and LNG has committed to net zero target by 2050. But it’s also enthusiastically building new coal plants, showing the huge obstacles to tackling global warming.
Sea-level rise from climate change could exceed the high-end projections, scientists warn
Of the many threats from climate change, sea-level rise will most certainly be among the most impactful, making hundreds of thousands of square miles of coastline uninhabitable and potentially displacing over 100 million people worldwide by the end of the century.
The climate question – are Catholics ignoring the Pope on climate change?
What role can faith play in fighting climate change?
Coronavirus: What has Covid done for climate crisis?
When Covid-19 sparked lockdowns around the world, emissions of one of the greenhouse gases responsible for climate change, atmospheric carbon dioxide, plummeted. But is this record drop a short-term effect of the 2020 pandemic or a ‘new normal’?
‘We cannot make it without science’: Greta Thunberg says climate experts are being ignored
Climate specialists not being listened to despite Covid showing importance of following science, activist says
Making sure climate solutions don’t make more problems
The technology that could help us survive is not being evenly distributed.
2020 saw a record drop in emissions—for the wrong reasons
There are ways to get this kind of climate win without also experiencing all the simultaneous pain.
2020 emissions: Precedent-setting or bucking the trend?
Crude oil’s wildly fluctuating futures prices reflected the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, with record falls in greenhouse gas emissions and fossil fuel demand making 2020 an unexpectedly good year for the climate
These are some climate stories that flew under the radar in 2020
The past year may be a difficult one to look back on — but amid the crises, there are signs that long-entrenched powerful interests may in fact be dug in on shaky ground.
2020 was a crisis year: a pandemic, economic turmoil, social upheaval. And running through it all, climate change.
Climate crisis will cause falling humidity in global cities – study
Research says planting trees in urban areas could mitigate rising temperatures
‘It’s awakened me’: UK climate assembly participants hail a life-changing event
From buying an electric car to starting a secondhand clothes business, attendees talk of the unexpected delights of the first UK citizens’ assembly
Greta Thunberg turns 18, hopes 2021 will be the ‘year of awakening’
Greta Thunberg, the Swedish teenager who galvanised attention on the issue of climate change affecting future generations, has reached adulthood.
New Year’s resolution? Cut your emissions by a tonne in 2021
Climate campaign urges people to take action to reduce their emissions next year, using an online tool to track progress against Paris Agreement goals to curb global warming.
New data-driven global climate model provides projections for urban environments
Cities only occupy about 3% of the Earth’s total land surface, but they bear the burden of the human-perceived effects of global climate change, researchers said. Global climate models are set up for big-picture analysis, leaving urban areas poorly represented. In a new study, researchers take a closer look at how climate change affects cities by using data-driven statistical models combined with traditional process-driven physical climate models.
We’re losing the war against climate change. It got worse in 2020
Bob Marshall
So how does 2020 grade in Louisiana’s struggle to prevent the environmental, economic and social disaster caused by its sinking, crumbling, drowning bottom third? I’ll give it a “D.”
Deep Adaptation and the science of climate change
Jonah Engel Bromwich
“Deep Adaptation” made people confront the end of the world from climate change. Does it matter if it’s not correct?
Amid 2020’s gloom, there are reasons to be hopeful about the climate in 2021
John Sauven
The concerted global response to the pandemic could be replicated for the fight against the climate crisis
Sustainability
Billions of masks are thrown away during the coronavirus pandemic – where do they end up?
There are growing fears for the environment and public health in parts of Asia as the COVID-19 pandemic leads to huge amounts of medical waste — sometimes ending up in waterways that people use for drinking.
Wetlands, beavers and Cinderella causes; the growth of environmental funding
Donations from individuals and charities to green causes more than double since 2016
Being realistic about coal mine rehabilitation in Indonesia: An ecological perspective
Coal mine rehabilitation is not as simple, nor perhaps as successful, as environmentalists, coal mining companies or policymakers hope.
Bacterial cocktail biodegrades plastics within week
A Budapest-based biotech start-up, Poliloop, has created a ‘cocktail’ of bacteria that they say can breakdown all 7 types of plastic listed in the international coding system and return back them back into the ‘natural life cycle’.
Scientists warn of the social and environmental risks tied to energy transition
As the world gears up to transition its energy sources from fossil fuels to renewable energy to curb greenhouse gas emissions, new research warns that the “decarbonization of the economy is not inherently environmentally innocuous or socially inclusive.”
Are cows the new coal? Chowing down on meat alternatives
Vegetarians and vegans aren’t the only ones avoiding meat, with plant-based substitutes and lab-grown meat finding favour from investors and consumers.
New rules to tackle ‘wild west’ of plastic waste dumped on poorer countries
International convention to stop richer countries exporting contaminated material for recycling could mean a cleaner ocean in five years.
Desalination breakthrough could lead to cheaper water filtration
Producing clean water at a lower cost could be on the horizon after researchers solved a complex problem that has baffled scientists for decades, until now.
Seabird patrols to self-healing buildings: the 15 conservation stories to watch in 2021
In their latest scan of emerging global biological conservation issues, experts assess the 15 most urgent risks society needs to address
Environmental visionaries and villains we lost in 2020
This year, extraordinary in so many awful ways, saw the passing of a wide range of important figures in the environmental field.
Is nuclear fusion the answer to the climate crisis?
Promising new studies suggest the long elusive technology may be capable of producing electricity for the grid by the end of the decade
Interest grows in carbon-neutral LNG [$]
Eliminating the carbon impact of a cargo of LNG is expensive and can involve a lot of trees, but there’s plenty of interest emerging from buyers in Asia.
How to rid yourself of 2020, in an environmentally responsible way
If a new year means a big clean-out, here are some important points to get started.
LNG, the cleanest fossil fuel, is set for a post-pandemic rebound [$]
Demand for the fuel used in heating and power generation is growing faster than for any other fossil fuel as nations look for a cheap, reliable and cleaner alternative to coal.
Model predicts global threat of sinking land will affect 635 million people worldwide
A new analysis suggests that, by 2040, 19% of the world’s population – accounting for 21% of the global Gross Domestic Product – will be impacted by subsidence, the sinking of the ground’s surface, a phenomenon often caused by human activities such as groundwater removal, and by natural causes as well.
The top 11 clean energy developments of 2020
2020 will be a year to remember. Fortunately, we don’t only have to remember it for a global pandemic, wildfires, an economic recession, racial justice protests, and locust swarms. Plenty of exciting and positive things happened in the energy space throughout the year.
Top positive environmental stories from 2020
2020 was a difficult year for many, but positive stories emerged.
There may be more pandemics in the future unless mankind learns how to be a good steward of the Earth, the Archbishop of York has warned. …
A moo-ving target: fenceless grazing widens possibilities for cows and wildlife
GPS collars that alert cows when they reach a boundary are helping to improve habitats and boost biodiversity
Amount of electronic waste generated in the U.S. is shrinking
The research, published in the Journal of Industrial Ecology, found that in addition to a decline in total e-waste mass, the sheer number of electronic devices entering the waste stream is also leveling off or shrinking.
Organic, non-organic meats have similar greenhouse gas impacts
Approximately the same amounts of carbon dioxide and methane gas are released to produce a pound of organic meat and a pound of non-organic meat, according to calculations by a trio of German scientists.
A polarization-driven guide to making high-performance, versatile solar cells
When solar cells are exposed to sunlight, certain bound “charge pairs” are generated in its components, which need to be separated for photocurrent generation. Ferroelectric materials, due to their spontaneous electric polarization, are highly efficient at charge separation but do poorly in light-to-electricity conversion. Now, scientists from Korea have demonstrated using theoretical calculations that antiperovskite oxides, a class of ferroelectric materials, show large absorption of sunlight, making them suitable photoabsorbers for thin film solar cells.
Multi-stakeholder partnerships that include displaced people in the process show promise for helping overwhelmed communities deal with an influx of climate migrants from rural areas.
These cities are gaining praise for efforts to tackle climate change and inequality
Although the global pandemic of 2020 made for some somber headlines, one nonprofit believes cities around the world still managed to make achievements worth celebrating.
Desalination breakthrough could lead to cheaper water filtration
Producing clean water at a lower cost could be on the horizon after researchers from The University of Texas at Austin and Penn State solved a complex problem that has baffled scientists for decades, until now.
Working remotely may not provide great climate benefits
Zack Subin
After the pandemic is over, public policy should focus on reducing vehicle miles driven to impact climate change.
Biden must be our ‘climate president’. He can start by ending pipeline projects
Faith Spotted Eagle and Kendall Mackey
There is no way to mine fossil fuels without driving the planet past 1.5C of warming and putting Indigenous communities at risk
Green eggs and good soil: the critical systems for health and happiness
Elizabeth Farrelly
It’s complex, but simple. You need to intuit, respect and protect the system. Then, Sam I Am, let it do the work for you.
This year wasn’t unprecedented. If anything, it set the precedent
Waleed Aly
A far better word to describe this year would be “forecast”. Nothing that happened this year came out of the blue. It had all been foretold in the warnings of experts over decades.
Have tourism and travel grown too big for our planet?
Joseph M Cheers et al
Before COVID-19 there concern about whether tourism was not environmentally responsible. With almost no international travel in 2020 we now have the opposite problem
There are reasons to feel OK about 2020, but a long-forgotten worry got worse
Sam Roggeveen
There’s good news about three issues that probably occupied a lot of your concern in 2020, but the threat of nuclear conflict escalated.
How the doughnut could provide the solution to our economic (and environmental) woes
Warwick Smith
Can we rebuild a better economy without damaging the environment? Doughnut economics may have the answer
Green buildings can bring fresh air to design, but they can also bring pests
Norman Day
Throughout the world architects are designing green buildings, whether it’s in their sustainable construction, environmentally friendly operation or actually green by style.
Christina Ergler
In an age of climate crisis, unaffordable housing and increasing disparities of wealth, the livability and functionality of our cities are more important than ever. And yet, important voices are missing from urban planning debates — the voices of those who will one day inherit those cities.
Even slow-moving boats likely to kill endangered right whales in a collision, study finds
Canadian government’s speed restrictions are not enough to prevent deaths of endangered animals, researchers say
Alaskan tribes, activists and businesses sue to save America’s biggest national forest
Tongass national forest, which plays a key role in fighting climate crisis, poised for logging after US ruling
Some birds may temporarily benefit from climate change, researchers say
Climate change affects everyone, and everything, in different ways. Whether human or animal, adaptation to a warming environment is crucial. According to new research published in Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, some bird species may thrive in this new environment.
More than 1 million barriers are blocking Europe’s rivers
Scientists said the artificial structures threaten some of the world’s most diverse ecosystems.
One way to fight invasive species? Eat them
From lionfish crudo to pickled kudzu, these invasive species—usually destructive and disdained—can also be delicious.
Mass die-off of birds in south-western US ’caused by starvation’
Necropsy reveals 80% of the thousands of songbirds that died suddenly showed typical signs of emaciation
‘It’s as if we’ve learned nothing’: alarm over Amazon road project
Memories of Brazil’s dictatorship as plan threatens biodiverse home of three indigenous communities
Will California finally fulfill its promise to fix the Salton Sea?
Decades have passed and millions of dollars spent, yet little has been done to restore the lake. Officials say it’s all been a long time coming.
Forty years ago, bald eagles were endangered in this country due to lost habitat, illegal shooting and contamination of their food. While the national has made a comeback, it still faces a mortal threat, lead fragments in game shot with lead bullets.
Podcast: A scramble to define ‘habitat’— and the future of conservation
A Supreme Court decision has conservationists and developers squaring off over the definition of habitat.
David Attenborough bears witness and makes case for planetary rewilding [$]
Sir David Attenborough is 94. This man is on his last lap and his new book, A Life on Our Planet, is his troubled valedictory.
Hopes for most endangered turtle after discovery of female in Vietnam lake
Find is chance for species’ survival say scientists as DNA results confirm turtle found in Hanoi district is a Swinhoe’s softshell
‘A critical time’: How Covid-19 piled the pressure on conservation efforts
Ecotourism revenues plummeted around the world as some areas saw poaching and land grabs increase in 2020.
Amazon rainforest will be past the point of recovery by 2064, scientist predicts
The Amazon rainforest will become a ‘savanna’ thanks to the effects of global warming, according to a scientist from the University of Florida – who says the area will be beyond the point of recovery by 2064.
Coral survivors show some cope better with heatwaves
The pressing concerns of climate change have placed the long-term health of the world’s coral reefs in jeopardy. However, new research inspires hope as some corals managed to survive a recent and globally unprecedented heatwave.
A robotic revolution for urban nature
Drones, robots and autonomous systems can transform the natural world in and around cities for people and wildlife.
Alert system shows potential for reducing deforestation, mitigating climate change
Forest loss declined 18% in African nations where a new satellite-based program provides free alerts when it detects deforestation activities.
Surprising news: drylands are not getting drier
Columbia Engineering study is the first to show the importance of long-term soil moisture changes and associated soil moisture-atmosphere feedbacks in future predictions of water availability in drylands. The researchers identified a long-term soil moisture regulation of atmospheric circulation and moisture transport that largely ameliorates the potential decline of future water availability in drylands, beyond that expected in the absence of soil moisture feedbacks.
Pandas’ popularity not protecting neighbors
Doubt is cast on the long-held hope that the conservation protections granted pandas and other adored threatened species extended to their wildlife neighbors, calling for broader conservation efforts.
New research makes strong case for restoring Hong Kong’s lost oyster reefs
Seven square meters of a HK oyster reef can filter up to one Olympic swimming pool of water in a single day
Lockdown awakened our interest in nature, but it mustn’t be at the expense of wildlife
Isabella Tree
A surge in outdoor activity in the UK has exposed how vital it is to balance human needs with those of the natural world
The Biden administration should restore the Endangered Species Act to full strength
Michael Camp
Trump has weakened the Endangered Species Act again and again. Biden can undo all that at once.
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