January, 2024

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Mind the Gaps: How the UN Climate Plan Fails to Follow the Science

Yale E360

The U.N. climate conference in Dubai agreed on a plan to keep global warming to 1.5 degrees C and achieve net-zero emissions by 2050. But researchers are warning that these pledges are not grounded in sound science and will fail to prevent the worst impacts of climate change.

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Can Federal Transit Operations Funding Foster Healthy, Thriving, Sustainable Communities? Yes, Here’s How.

Union of Concerned Scientists

Today, Representative Hank Johnson introduced federal transit operations funding legislation that could vastly improve transit across the country. UCS has been watching and supported a similar bill sponsored by Rep. Johnson in the last Congress. High-quality transit is freeing. It connects people to the places, communities, and resources we all need to thrive.

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Neuralink: What do brain implants do and why is Elon Musk making them?

New Scientist

Elon Musk's Neuralink company is conducting its first human trials, implanting a tiny chip into the surface of a person's brain to allow them to talk directly with computers

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The Beleaguered Whitebark Pine Is in Trouble. Can It Be Saved?

Yale E360

Once common in the West, whitebark pine is being wiped out by a deadly fungus, ravaging beetles, and climate change. Scientists hope advances in gene sequencing and a recent federal listing as threatened will speed the hunt for trees that can be replanted and seed the future.

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How to Drive Cost Savings, Efficiency Gains, and Sustainability Wins with MES

Speaker: Nikhil Joshi, Founder & President of Snic Solutions

Is your manufacturing operation reaching its efficiency potential? A Manufacturing Execution System (MES) could be the game-changer, helping you reduce waste, cut costs, and lower your carbon footprint. Join Nikhil Joshi, Founder & President of Snic Solutions, in this value-packed webinar as he breaks down how MES can drive operational excellence and sustainability.

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Spencer’s Shenanigans

Real Climate

A recent sensible-sounding piece by Roy Spencer for the Heritage foundation is full of misrepresentations. Let’s play spot the fallacy. Comparing climate models to observations is usually a great idea, but there are some obvious pitfalls to avoid if you want to be taken seriously. The most obvious one is to neglect the impacts of internal variability – which is not synchronized across the models or with the observations.

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Evaluating Voluntary Agreements in the Bay-Delta Watershed

Legal Planet

Updates to flow and other regulatory requirements for California’s Bay-Delta watershed are long overdue. For much of the last 12 years, state political leadership has prioritized efforts to develop voluntary agreements (VAs) with water users over completing updates to the watershed’s water quality standards. Now the State Water Resources Control Board has restarted the regulatory process and is considering what role proposed VAs will play in it.

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Everything You Wanted to Know About Biodiesel and Renewable Diesel. Charts and Graphs Included

Union of Concerned Scientists

Back in 2016 I wrote a long post about biodiesel , explaining what it is made from (mostly vegetable oil) and arguing that EPA should show restraint in setting targets for biodiesel because of the limited availability oils and fats and the harmful consequences of drawing too heavily from these limited sources. The world has changed in many ways since 2016, but the large-scale diversion of vegetable oil from food to fuel remains a bad idea.

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Modern humans were already in northern Europe 45,000 years ago

New Scientist

DNA from bones found in a cave in Germany has been identified as from Homo sapiens, showing that our species endured frigid conditions there as they expanded across the continent

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No Free Parking: An Urban Reform Movement Takes Hold

Yale E360

In cities across the U.S., planners are pushing to eliminate mandates requiring parking spaces in new buildings. The reforms, along with adding street parking meters, reduce car dependency, create public spaces, cut down on heat-island effects, and lower housing costs.

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Not just another dot on the graph?

Real Climate

As the climate monitoring groups add an additional dot to their graphs this week, there is some disquiet among people paying attention about just how extraordinary 2023 really was. First, it’s been obvious for months that 2023 would be a record year – in temperatures (at the surface, troposphere and in the ocean), in Antarctic sea ice, in the number of big climate disasters etc.

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The Key to Sustainable Energy Optimization: A Data-Driven Approach for Manufacturing

Speaker: Kevin Kai Wong, President of Emergent Energy Solutions

In today's industrial landscape, the pursuit of sustainable energy optimization and decarbonization has become paramount. ♻️ Manufacturing corporations across the U.S. are facing the urgent need to align with decarbonization goals while enhancing efficiency and productivity. Unfortunately, the lack of comprehensive energy data poses a significant challenge for manufacturing managers striving to meet their targets. 📊 Join us for a practical webinar hosted by Kevin Kai Wong of Emergent Ene

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First Space-Based Gravitational Wave Detector Gets Go-Ahead

Scientific American

The Laser Interferometer Space Antenna could discover gigantic ripples in spacetime from merging supermassive black holes and more

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Oil Fraud Defendant Tries to Evade SEC Complaint

Energy & the Law

We haven’t presented 2023’s Bad Guys in Energy, but we have SEC v. Bowen, Baker, Cannon Operating and others as an example of garden variety securities fraud. The opinion addresses a defendant’s effort to defeat the SEC’s fraud claim by attacking the complaint. The “bad guys” are only alleged at this point. Bowen, Baker and others raised $2.1MM from 140 investors for Cannon Operating.

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A Cap on Vegetable Oil-Based Fuels Will Stabilize and Strengthen California’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard

Union of Concerned Scientists

I have long been a supporter of California’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS). The LCFS is the leading example of a Clean Fuel Standard , an approach to transportation fuel policy that holds oil refiners accountable to reduce the carbon intensity (CI) of transportation fuels. The CI is determined through a lifecycle analysis of the global warming pollution associated with the production and use of gasoline, diesel, biofuels, electricity, or other alternative fuels.

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A bold new take on quantum theory could reveal how reality emerges

New Scientist

At the smallest scales, everything is made out of a cloud of quantum possibilities.

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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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Natural Hydrogen: A Potential Clean Energy Source Beneath Our Feet

Yale E360

As studies show far more natural hydrogen underground than believed, well-funded efforts to drill for the gas are underway around the globe. Boosters see a plentiful green replacement for fossil fuels, but skeptics say its large-scale use may not be practical or cost-effective.

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Annual GMSAT predictions and ENSO

Real Climate

For the last few years ( since at least 2016 ), I’ve shared predictions for the next annual global mean surface air temperature (GMSAT) anomaly based on the long term trend and the state of ENSO at the start of the year. Generally speaking, this has been quite skillful compared to persistence or just the long term trend alone – the eventual anomaly was consistently within the predicted bounds.

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Shrinking Family Sizes May Change Our Experience with Aging

Scientific American

Throughout the world, the number of relatives that people have may dramatically shrink by 2095, which could change care for children and aging people

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PSA Well Permit Dispute Makes its Way to the Texas Supreme Court

Energy & the Law

Contacted at his seaside villa, Captain Renault said he was shocked that Elsie and Adrian Opiela are asking the Texas Supreme Court to review questions surrounding the Railroad Commission’s approval of a drilling permit for a Production Sharing Agreement well. The Commission’s “65% Rule” for multi-tract horizontal wells is invalid because the Commission does not have the authority to make such a rule.

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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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Rural Drivers vs. Disinformation: Three Facts about Electric Vehicles to Set the Record Straight

Union of Concerned Scientists

EV demand is on a clear upward trajectory, in spite of fluctuations in the market. Availability has also increased , with many auto dealers offering a wide range of new and more affordable electric passenger car and pick-up truck models. This is all good news, but while urban areas have witnessed a growing adoption of EVs, adoption in rural areas is still lagging.

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Newborn great white shark possibly seen in the wild for the first time

New Scientist

Drone footage filmed off the coast of California shows a 1.

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How DNA from Museums Is Helping Boost Species on the Brink

Yale E360

Historical and ancient DNA from museum specimens is enabling scientists to establish baselines of genetic diversity for species now in decline. Biologists are using that information to decide how best to protect imperiled wildlife, from Galápagos tortoises to African rhinos.

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Not just another dot on the graph? Part II

Real Climate

Annual updates to the model-observation comparisons for 2023 are now complete. The comparisons encompass surface air temperatures, mid-troposphere temperatures (global and tropical, and ‘corrected’), sea surface temperatures, and stratospheric temperatures. In almost every case, the addition of the 2023 numbers was in line with the long term expectation from the models.

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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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With the World Stumbling Past 1.5 Degrees of Warming, Scientists Warn Climate Shocks Could Trigger Unrest and Authoritarian Backlash

Inside Climate News

Most of the public seems unaware that global temperatures will soon push past the target to which the U.N. hoped to limit warming, but researchers see social and psychological crises brewing. By Bob Berwyn As Earth’s annual average temperature pushes against the 1.5 degree Celsius limit beyond which climatologists expect the impacts of global warming to intensify, social scientists warn that humanity may be about to sleepwalk into a dangerous new era in human history.

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Retail Electricity Customers Denied Relief from Uri

Energy & the Law

In re Luminant Generation Company LLC et al is a bitter pill for the litigation hangover from Winter Storm Uri. Takeaway: Texas does not recognize a legal duty owed by wholesale power generators to retail customers to provide continuous electricity to the electric grid and ultimately to the customers. The claims Hundreds of retail electricity customers sued hundreds of entities involved in virtually every aspect of the Texas electricity market.

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An Opportunity to Reduce Water Pollution from Slaughterhouses

Union of Concerned Scientists

Industrial meat and poultry slaughterhouses dump millions of pounds of pollutants into the nation’s waters every year. The federal Clean Water Act directs the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to set and enforce the rules that regulate this pollution. But the current rules, which were enacted two decades ago, are woefully inadequate at curbing the environmental and human impacts of this dirty water deluge.

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Glacier Meltwater Destroys Precious Climate Data in the Alps

Scientific American

Rising temperatures are melting an area of the Swiss Alps where scientists have been working to collect centuries-old ice cores that contain evidence of past environmental conditions

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Rethinking Monarchs: Does the Beloved Butterfly Need Our Help?

Yale E360

The Eastern monarch butterfly has long been thought to be in peril, but new studies indicate that its U.S. populations are not in decline. Scientists say the biggest threat the species faces is from well-meaning people who breed the butterflies at home and release them.

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Writing things down may help you remember information more than typing

New Scientist

Writing words down increases connectivity linked to memory and learning between different areas of the brain, with the same not being true when things are typed out on a computer

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International Community Wants Biden to Act on LNG

NRDC

Allies from key countries around the world came out resoundingly in support of the Biden administration's decision to pause permitting of new liquefied natural gas export facilities.

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Groundwater Levels Around the World Are Dropping Quickly, Often at Accelerating Rates

Inside Climate News

Rapid declines are most common in aquifers under croplands in drier regions, including California, the most extensive analysis of groundwater trends so far shows. By Liza Gross Groundwater supplies are dwindling in aquifers around the world, a groundbreaking new study found, with the rates of decline accelerating over the past four decades in nearly a third of aquifers studied.

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Why the IPCC 7th Assessment Matters

Union of Concerned Scientists

I’m currently in Istanbul, Türkiye, with my colleague Adam Markham , for the opening session of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) seventh assessment cycle. While the global understanding of climate change is well-established, the world’s response remains sluggish. It’s essential that as policies and public awareness evolve, the science keeps pace, offering the latest policy-relevant insights to effectively combat climate change.

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Cleaning Water Naturally the Ancient Maya Way

Scientific American

The ancestral Maya lived in better harmony with the environment and kept water clean naturally.