Environment
Environment
A Fool’s Errand: Trying to Influence Fire by Logging
George Wuerthner: Recently Montana Governor Greg Gianforte praised forest management for limiting the spread of two fires near the state capital of Helena. ... forest management, a euphemism for logging ... the primary factor controlling all wildfires is climate/weather ... If you have major drought, high temperatures, low humidity, and, most importantly, high winds, you get fires you can’t control ... There is abundant evidence from numerous fires throughout the West and Montana that “active forest management” can increase fire spread ... Trying to influence wildfires by logging and other management is a fool’s errand...
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Oct 4, 2022, 12:37pm
Environment
Wealthiest 10% Responsible for Nearly 50% of Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Study Finds
Olivia Rosane: “In my benchmark estimates, I find that the bottom 50% of the world population emitted 12% of global emissions in 2019, whereas the top 10% emitted 48% of the total,” ... “ I find that the bottom 50% of the world population emitted 12% of global emissions in 2019, whereas the top 10% emitted 48% of the total,” ... A Carbon Brief analysis, for example, found that the U.S. is responsible for around 20 percent of greenhouse gas emissions since 1850, the most of any one nation. ... it means that on top of the great inter-national inequality in carbon emissions, there are also even greater emission inequalities between individuals within countries....
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Oct 3, 2022, 4:38pm
Environment
Deforestation 101: Everything You Need to Know
Cristen Hemingway Jaynes: Today, there are about three trillion trees and ten billion acres of forest on Earth. That may sound like a lot, but the planet has lost more than one billion acres of forest to deforestation since 1990. ... The biggest human causes of deforestation are farming, especially unsustainable practices such as slash-and-burn agriculture — where forests are burned and cleared for planting — raising cattle for dairy and meat and the uncontrolled cultivation of crops like rubber and palm oil. ... Deforestation is robbing the world of much of its rich biodiversity and contributing to global warming...
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Oct 2, 2022, 1:07pm
Environment
Sea Level Acceleration
Robert Hunziker: According to knowledgeable sources, regardless of mitigation efforts, sea levels are destined to rise by approximately one foot by 2050. Thereafter, fairly high probabilities indicate up to 5 feet-to-10 feet by the end of the century ... The oceans have absorbed 93% of the planet’s heat, and there’s no off switch to stop warming ocean waters from melting the world’s two largest ice structures Greenland and Antarctica. ... society needs a new vision of the planet. It needs to learn to “build higher and smarter"...
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Oct 1, 2022, 4:52pm
Environment
Environmental Toxins 101: Everything You Need to Know
Libby Leonard: When it comes to environmental toxins, many of us conjure images of industrial smokestacks, but unfortunately, they aren’t in just the most obvious places, but they’re everywhere in our daily lives – in the water we drink, the air we breathe, the food we eat, the products we use on our body, in our homes and our gardens. ... These toxins with enough concentration can wreak havoc on our health with major threats that include cancer-causing carcinogens, and other substances that upend cardiovascular, endocrine, and respiratory functions, as well as, lead to chronic illness. ... the need for us to figure out how to limit our exposure is becoming more important...
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Sep 29, 2022, 2:02pm
Environment
Plant Diversity Booms When Bison Return to the Prairie
Mary Jo DiLonardo: Reintroducing bison to prairies doubles plant diversity and boosts resilience to extreme weather, a new study finds ... Researchers considered about three decades of data from the Flint Hills region of Kansas. ... Researchers say it is one of the largest increases in diversity ever caused by a grazing animal, and the prairie growth gains were resilient to extreme drought, which is likely to become more prevalent....
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Sep 26, 2022, 5:04pm
Environment
Solar Sovereignty: The Promise of Native-Led Renewables
Tara Lohan: “We’re training a workforce of solar warriors,” says the cofounder of Indigenized Energy Initiative. ... Our solution takes a very culturally sensitive, inclusive and systems-based approach to addressing the economic, climate and energy challenges that Tribes have with solar and, in the future, other renewables. ... How can a Tribe be sovereign if they’re dependent on the very colonial construct that puts them in this predicament in the first place? ... solar is now the lowest cost form of energy ... our first step is to go to the community and talk with young men and women about our Native-led training programs ... To be able to have a well-paying job that’s doing something that’s good for the Earth, good for their people...
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Sep 22, 2022, 3:20pm
Environment
Left Out to Dry: Wildlife Threatened by Colorado River Basin Water Crisis
Tara Lohan: Lost in much of the coverage of the region’s water woes is the ecological crisis caused by prolonged drought, climate warming and development. ... Long before cities and industrial farms emerged, the river supported diverse mountain and desert ecosystems, providing refuge and resources for countless animals and plants. ... Many of those species now struggle to survive ... an overlooked part of the region’s water crisis ... If economy continues to trump ecology, the river basin will continue to decline...
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Sep 12, 2022, 5:18pm
Environment
The Case Against Nuclear Power: A Primer
Joshua Frank: There are many reasons to oppose nuclear power ... nuclear energy is not carbon neutral, mining impacts, nuclear power’s ties to atomic weapons, waste issues, the risks of accidents, and costs ... Currently, the US has 55 nuclear plants and 93 operating reactors in 28 states ... nuclear power, when every stage is taken into account, actually has a larger carbon footprint than natural gas plants ... Uranium mining ... one of the most toxic forms of mining in the world ... if you support the Land Back movement, if you care about Indigenous lands, if you care about the environment, how could you ever support the mining of uranium? ... nuclear power was born out of government weapons programs ... the civilian sector has served as a convenient avenue and cover ... we have witnessed 5 meltdowns of nuclear reactors in the past 40 years: Three Mile Island, Chernobyl, and three reactors at Fukushima...
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Sep 10, 2022, 12:25pm
Environment
5 of the World’s Coolest EcoVillages
Linnea Harris: Ecovillages are intentional communities designed to be environmentally, socially, and/or economically sustainable. The concept gained popularity in the 1960s and 70s when communes became more widespread, although many traditional, rural communities have long engaged in these practices ... While each community is different, they all share a few common elements. ... These might include locally grown and managed food sources, renewable energy and waste treatment systems on the property, shared spaces and resources, community gatherings, or shared businesses...
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Sep 8, 2022, 3:40pm
Environment
Tiny algae could help fix concrete’s dirty little climate secret – 4 innovative ways
Wil Srubar: It doesn’t have to be 100% cement:... limestone calcined-clay cement, which contains about 55% portland cement, 15% ground limestone and 30% calcined clay ... What electrification and carbon capture can do ... Going cement-free, possibly with algae: ... the use of algae-derived limestone for portland cement production ... Using concrete to lock captured CO2 away: ... injecting captured carbon dioxide into concrete as well as using aggregates made of carbon dioxide in place of gravel or sand...
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Sep 7, 2022, 2:55pm
Environment
Montana Doubles Down on Wolf Slaughter
George Wuerthner: Montana, as well as other states like Idaho and Wyoming, permit the indiscriminate killing of wolves. ... Predators are, by their nature, self-regulating. Their numbers cannot grow larger infinitely because they are limited by prey availability. ... The killing of any predator has no moral or scientific justification. ... I can give numerous ecological reasons for protecting wolves, including their role as top-down cascade influences on other animals like elk and deer. ... Humans have a debt to the planet. One of the ways we can pay our dues is to heal the Earth by restoring predators like the wolf...
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Aug 30, 2022, 2:39pm
Environment
The Wonderful World of Animal Senses and How it Expands Our View of the Universe
Learning about how other creatures experience the world makes us realize just how complex and special our environment is. ... Ed Yong author of "An Immense World: How Animal Senses Reveal the Hidden Realms Around Us" talks with Nathan J. Robinson about his book ... We are trapped in our own little sensory bubble ... Let’s say we have an electric fish or a rattlesnake or a hummingbird or a bee or an elephant in here. They would all experience completely different parts of this world than what I’m experiencing. ... The snake would sense the infrared radiation ... The elephant would smell things ... The hummingbird would see colors that I can’t see...
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Aug 21, 2022, 5:10pm
Environment
Capitalism Won’t Fix the Climate Crisis. It Will Also Not Survive It.
John Kendall Hawkins: Interview with Bill McGuire author of Hothouse Earth ... Global heating and climate breakdown are with us now, rather than a vague ten thousand years down the line. ... Around 2.4 trillion tonnes of carbon dioxide has been released into the atmosphere in the last couple of centuries. This is acting as a blanket, keeping in heat that would otherwise head off into space. ... it is now practically impossible for us to dodge perilous, all-pervasive, climate breakdown that will affect everyone and insinuate itself into every aspect of our lives. ... No system predicated on greed and short-term profit, rather than the greater good, will prevail against the storm that is coming ... are we going to do everything possible to make our world as safe as it can be for our children and their children?...
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Aug 20, 2022, 12:45pm
Environment
How America’s First ‘Heat Officers’ Are Cooling Miami and Los Angeles
Michaela Haas: For the first time, two US cities are treating extreme heat as a crisis — and dealing with it accordingly ... Wildfires and hurricanes may grab the big headlines, but heat is actually the deadliest weather phenomenon in the US. ... air conditioning units for underserved communities; and a “cooling network” of shops, department stores and fast-food chains at which people can come in and cool down, “so that everybody who starts feeling overheated on their way to the bus stop knows: I can get a glass of cool water here and sit down in a cooled space to recover at no cost...
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Aug 15, 2022, 2:58pm
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