https://thehill.com/opinion/energy-environment/3939949-how-to-avoid-apocalypse-fatigue/
Date: 10 April 2023 at 8:26:24 am ACST
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Subject: Daily Links Apr 10
Post of the Day
Moving towards 3 degrees of warming — the phasing out of coal is too slow
The use of coal power is not decreasing fast enough. The Paris Agreement’s target of a maximum of 2 degrees of warming appear to be missed, and the world is moving towards a temperature increase of 2.5 — 3 degrees. At the same time it is feasible to avoid higher warming.
On This Day
Easter Monday – Western Christianity
Climate Change
‘Headed off the charts’: world’s ocean surface temperature hits record high
Scientists warn of more marine heatwaves, leading to increased risk of extreme weather
More than a decade of megadrought brought a summer of megafires to Chile
As relentless drought dries out subsistence farmers’ wells, vast eucalyptus and pine plantations, remnants of the Pinochet dictatorship, are torching their communities.
As farmers in PNG recover from a long drought and rush to replant in Vanuatu after twin cyclones last month, a forecast El Niño weather pattern could hamper recovery efforts and threaten food supplies.
Thawing permafrost may release industrial pollutants at Arctic sites
There are thousands of contaminated sites in the Arctic, and as permafrost thaws, increased pollutants from these areas could be released, says a recent study.
The World Bank is getting a new chief. Will he pivot toward climate action?
As World Bank shareholders gather in Washington for their annual spring meeting on Monday, the global institution appears to be on the brink of significant change.
Science tackles the West’s megadrought
As the U.S. Southwest gets drier and drier, researchers recommend ways to lessen the pain from 23 years of megadrought in the Colorado River basin.
Five Times Faster by Simon Sharpe review – a radical but realistic path to net zero emissions
A former civil servant makes a persuasive case for dropping economy-wide emissions targets and focusing on tipping points where green technologies become affordable.
How to avoid apocalypse fatigue
William S. Becker
Ever since climate change became a thing, communications experts have been offering advice on how to talk about it. Is hope or hopelessness the message that motivates people to act? Too much gloom creates apocalypse fatigue and fatalism, while too much optimism comes across as unrealistic.
Energy decarbonization requires an all-of-the-above approach
Benji Backer
Experts have long said that in order to have affordable, reliable and increasingly clean energy, we need an all-of-the-above approach to energy. To meet our world’s energy needs, we need fossil fuels, wind, solar, nuclear, geothermal and more.
One decision can help get Biden’s climate goals back on track
Dan Becker and Maya Golden-Krasner
As President Biden feels the political heat for approving destructive oil drilling in the Alaskan Arctic and Gulf of Mexico, his climate goals — and his legacy — are in jeopardy. His best shot at getting back on track would be strong new auto pollution standards.
Can the UAE help get a planet-saving methane deal at COP28?
Paul Bledsoe and Durwood Zaelke
Environmental advocates are rightfully skeptical that the head of a national oil company can credibly steer the parties at the upcoming UN climate summit COP28 to the strong climate mitigation needed to meet the climate emergency, especially one that is planning a major oil and gas expansion that is inconsistent with the 2015 Paris Agreement goal of limiting warming to no more than 1.5 degrees Celsius of warming above pre-Industrial levels.
A tale of two energy proposals: Only one prioritizes survival
Ben Jealous
There are two very different views of the threat we face from climate change on display in Washington lately. One is a sober perspective that challenges us to consider difficult choices to slow the warming before it’s too late. The other outlook pushes outdated and dangerous policies like a literal gas pedal to speed us toward an unlivable planet.
Farmers’ climate vs. hunger dilemma is textbook
Neal Urwitz
Feeding the world and preventing the planet from burning are quintessential positive externalities. Therefore, we will have to start paying farmers to adopt technologies that can help them do both.
The power of stories in a climate crisis
Mallory McDuff
Climate scientist Katharine Hayhoe says the most important thing we can do about the climate crisis is to talk about it. Yet 67% of people in the United States say they rarely or never discuss global warming with friends and family, although the majority are concerned about it.
National
REDcycle collapsed with $5m in debts as more plastic stockpiles are found
Fourteen formerly secret stashes of plastic bags have been found around Australia following the collapse of REDcycle, the company that ran Coles and Woolworths’ signature soft plastic recycling program.
Is it time for your doctor to give you a ‘nature prescription’?
The benefits of getting out in nature have been known at least since the 1850s, but not nearly enough Australians are getting out into the greenery.
Labor takes victory lap on clean energy after doubling the approval of projects
The federal government is claiming a boost to investment in renewable energy after it increased spending in last year’s budget to clear backlogs and issue faster environmental approvals.
Australia’s hydrogen “superpower” dream could be massive waste of money, says Griffith
Rewiring Australia’s Saul Griffith tells government putting hydrogen at the centre of Australia’s energy future makes no economic or thermodynamic sense.
Conservationists campaigning to permanently remove shark nets from east coast beaches – video
The nets mostly catch non-targeted marine life and experts warn the nets may be luring more sharks closer to the shore.
What would you choose: a strategic battery industry, or AUKUS?
Terry O’Leary
Australia has only a few months of fuel reserves and we are on the edge of a technological revolution in transport. So in a strategic sense anything we could do to secure our fuel reserves or find alternatives to petroleum based fuels would make us more secure.
Twiggy Forrest, Chris Bowen caught in green hydrogen fantasy [$]
Nick Cater
A head somewhat cooler than the one sitting on the shoulders of the Energy Minister might conclude that this isn’t a fight Australia needs to be in
The Safeguard Mechanism deal: How hard are the caps and do they matter?
Andrew Macintosh
Greens and Murdoch media say Safeguards deal is the end of new coal and gas. The share market disagrees because – for all the political posturing – there is flexibility in the deal.
Victoria
The hope in watching grass grow, as nature slowly retakes former coal mine
A former coal mine at Anglesea is being rehabilitated, but concerns remain about how to fill the massive pit with water.
New South Wales
NSW Facing Energy Supply Problem – podcast
Delayed energy projects and the imminent closure of the country’s oldest power plant has presented a future supply problem.
Tasmania
People leaving town ‘blanketed in smoke’ in the lead-up to long Easter weekend
Residents of a rural Tasmanian town were told to either leave, or wear masks, when dense “acrid” smoke blanketed the valley following more than 115 hectares of regeneration burns.
Australia’s ‘Easter bunnies’ are under threat. Here’s how their numbers doubled in a year
The native bilby is often referred to as Australia’s version of the Easter bunny, but its population is far smaller and more endangered than introduced rabbit species. Nevertheless, conservationists say they’ve managed to double endangered bilby populations in just 12 months.
Federal Recovery Plan to bolster bilby reintroduction efforts at sanctuary near Alice Springs
Ecologists say a $1.6 million federal plan to protect bilbies from predators and fire in Central Australia will build on a reintroduction program near Alice Springs, which recorded its first joey in December.
Sustainability
Seventeen years of helping African people has given Diana a template for sustainable development
Launceston nurse and charity founder Diana Butler is busy taking the model for sustainable development she helped create in Tanzania to the world.
India’s power output grows at fastest pace in 33 years, fuelled by coal
Power generation rose 11.5 per cent to 1,591.11 billion kilowatt-hours (kWh), or units, in the fiscal year ended March 2023, an analysis of daily load data from regulator Grid-India showed, the sharpest increase since year ended March 1990.
Electric vehicles could go further with an AI boost
Software developed by Electra Vehicles could extend the range of some Teslas by up to 100km.
Amsterdam’s ‘smart’ blue-green roofs reduce urban flooding
The city scaled up the planting of self-watering residential rooftop gardens that mitigate flooding and lower temperatures.
Study: Women, youths can be more effective at driving sustainable farming changes
A study in a farming community on Indonesia’s Sulawesi Island shows that women and younger farmers can be more influential than older men in persuading peers to adopt new technologies and practices.
How to avoid E-bike battery fires and explosions
Batteries from reputable manufacturers that have undergone testing and certifications are widely considered safe. But problems may start to arise when batteries are damaged, modified or shoddily made.
Is light pollution making darkness a luxury?
Emma Beddington
Light pollution is everywhere, obscuring stars, bewildering bats and making insect decline worse. Is finding dark corner becoming a luxury?
The untapped power of ocean winds – why New Zealand is looking offshore for future renewable energy
Craig Stevens
The latest synthesis report released by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) makes it clear we need to prepare for intensifying impacts, while also cutting emissions dramatically.
Environment: Energy transition’s progress is AC. Needs to be DC
Peter Sainsbury
China leads the world in building both coal and renewable infrastructure. Ten leading drivers of climate action are ineffective at keeping warming below 2oC. More and more species exposed to extinction as temperatures rise.
Eliminate useless uses of forever chemicals
Jonas Lapier and Carol Kwiatkowski
As the subject of countless news articles, talk show segments and even a major Mark Ruffalo film, the environmental and health harms of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are well-known. PFAS are associated with cancer, liver damage, obesity, infertility, reduced response to vaccines, more severe COVID-19 outcomes and more. Due to their widespread use in everyday products — from nonstick pans to raincoats — they lurk in virtually all of our bodies.
World’s road out of poverty is paved by energy — and plenty of it
Scott Tinker
When looking at underlying indicators of economic poverty, lack of access to energy looms large. The wealthiest nations in the world enjoy the greatest energy security — affordable, available and reliable — and the poorest nations are essentially energy starved.
Peter Schlosser et al
What does it take for societies to change? What’s the distance in time between societal awareness and concrete action? Can one recognize a cultural inflection point while it is happening?
Nature Conservation
India’s Indigenous people demand land rights after being displaced by tiger conservation
Fifty years since it began, India’s Project Tiger initiative has seen the animal’s numbers recover, but Indigenous people displaced by the project are now seeking to return to life alongside the tigers.
How indigenous lands in the Amazon help prevent deadly diseases
Protected indigenous reservations in the Amazon rainforest absorb thousands of tonnes of airborne pollution each year, preventing respiratory and cardiovascular diseases and saving millions of dollars in healthcare costs, according to a study published this week.
Whales help store carbon. Scientists are trying to figure out just how much
Beyond concerns over the impact of reduced whale populations on marine ecosystems, there’s now increased attention being paid to the role they have in helping the fight against climate change.
Deep in Florida, an ‘ecological disaster’ has been reversed—and wildlife is thriving
Much of Florida’s Kissimmee River has been restored to its natural state, a milestone worth celebrating—and learning from.
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