November, 2024

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Operationalizing Climate Science

Real Climate

There is a need to make climate science more agile and more responsive, and that means moving (some of it) from research to operations. Readers here will know that the climate science community has had a hard time giving quantitative explanations for what’s happened in climate over the Nature 2023 ?”>last couple of years or even over the last couple of decades.

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As Drought Shrivels Hydropower, Zambia Is Pivoting to Solar

Yale E360

An unprecedented drought has lowered reservoirs in hydropower-dependent Zambia, leading to economically crippling blackouts and spurring a push for solar. With multiple utility-scale arrays now in the works, the nation is betting on solar to increase its power capacity by a third.

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Expressions of Pain May Have a Common Origin

Scientific American

From “ouch” to “ aïe ” to “ yakayi, ” languages across the world exclaim pain using similar-sounding words, hinting at a common origin

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Ontario Government Weakens Greenbelt Protections and Takes Land Again with Bill 212

Enviromental Defense

Statement by Tim Gray, Executive Director By peddling falsehoods about bike lanes, the Ontario government seeks to distract Ontarians from provisions in Bill 212 that will fast-track an unnecessary and expensive highway while undermining the Greenbelt. Toronto | Traditional territories of the Mississaugas of the Credit, the Anishinaabeg, the Haudenosaunee, and the Wendat – Embedded within Bill 212 are provisions that will undermine the Greenbelt by removing key environmental oversight and safe

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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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AI simulations of 1000 people accurately replicate their behaviour

New Scientist

Using GPT-4o, the model behind ChatGPT, researchers have replicated the personality and behaviour of more than 1000 people, in an effort to create an alternative to focus groups and polling

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Drilling Into the Differences Between Offshore Oil Drilling and Offshore Wind

Ocean Conservancy

It took Hurricane Helene just three days to travel from the overly warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico to the mountains of North Carolina, causing incredible damage and loss of life. Hurricane Milton also moved fast, intensifying from a Category 1 to a Category 5 hurricane in a single day, before hitting Florida with incredible winds, tornados and flooding.

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How Brazil Hopes to Make Amazon a Model for a Green Economy

Yale E360

As he prepares to host the G20 summit, Brazil’s president is championing initiatives to promote a “bioeconomy” in the Amazon that protects biodiversity and helps Indigenous residents. The goal: To get governments to commit to a new economic vision that is truly sustainable.

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How the Return of Salmon to the Klamath River Shows Us What’s Possible in Wildlife Conservation

Scientific American

Once a tragic example of degraded wildlife habitat, the Klamath River’s dam removal demonstrates how people can halt the decline of, and even restore, wildlife

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New Expert Report: Ending Restrictions on Mid-Rise Apartment Buildings Necessary to end Housing Shortage

Enviromental Defense

To deliver 1.5 million homes by 2031, governments need to eliminate minimum parking requirements, reform building codes and legalize six-storey apartments on the avenues and major streets in existing neighbourhoods throughout Ontario. Toronto | Traditional territories of the Mississaugas of the Credit, the Anishinaabeg, the Haudenosaunee, and the Wendat – The failure to reform land use planning laws, the building code, tax rules, and service charges for existing neighborhoods is obstructing the

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IBM entangled two quantum chips to work together for the first time

New Scientist

IBM has bet big on a modular approach to building quantum computers, and now it has successfully linked two quantum chips together to operate as a single device, a key step towards that goal

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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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Shell Falcon Pipeline LP Pleads No Contest To Criminal Charges For Violating The State Clean Streams Law In Allegheny, Beaver, Washington Counties; Will Pay $300,000 In Penalties

PA Environment Daily

On November 25 at a Washington County Courthouse hearing, Shell Falcon Pipeline LP pleads no contest to three of 13 criminal charges for violating the state Clean Streams when it constructed a natural gas liquids pipeline in Allegheny, Beaver and Washington counties serving the Shell Petrochemical Plant in Beaver County, according to the Beaver County Marcellus Awareness Community.

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Our Fight for the Future at COP29

Ocean Conservancy

Fifty-two years. 26 Congresses. 10 U.S. presidents. That’s how long Ocean Conservancy has been advancing policies that secure a healthy ocean and a thriving planet. Through political shifts and economic tides, the organization has stayed the course. Protecting our blue planet isn’t just a matter of politics; it is our duty—to ourselves, to future generations and to the planet we call home.

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As Ocean Waters Warm, a Race to Breed Heat-Resistant Coral

Yale E360

Around the world, researchers are working on a range of projects that aim to enhance corals’ resistance to marine heat waves. In a promising sign, a U.K. team recently became the first to quantify an uptick in heat tolerance among adult corals selectively bred for the trait.

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World’s Oldest Alphabet Discovered

Scientific American

A finger-sized clay cylinder from a tomb in northern Syria appears to be the oldest example of writing using an alphabet rather than hieroglyphs or cuneiform

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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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What Ontario stands to lose in Premier Ford’s push for more cars everywhere

Enviromental Defense

What do the proposed Highway 413, the Bradford By-Pass, the 401 Mega-Tunnel, ripping up and banning bike lanes, extending the “temporary” gas tax rebate for the fourth time or canceling license plate renewal fees have in common? The answer of course is cars. Do more highways and less bike lanes actually reduce gridlock? The simple answer is no, more highways don’t make traffic better.

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Bird flu may be adapting to become more infectious to humans

New Scientist

Three people in North America without known animal exposures have tested positive for the bird flu virus H5N1, and samples from two of them suggest the virus is adapting to humans

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DCNR Announces $79.4 Million In Grants To Support 307 Recreation, Land Conservation, Tree Planting Projects Across Pennsylvania; Next Grant Round Opens Jan. 21

PA Environment Daily

On November 12, Department of Conservation and Natural Resources Secretary Cindy Adams Dunn announced the investment of $79.4 million in grants to support 307 projects across Pennsylvania, aimed at expanding recreational opportunities, conserving natural spaces, and revitalizing communities. These grants will support a wide range of projects, including improving local parks, expanding trails and river access points, and creating more green space in local communities.

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Turning Kazakhstan Into a Beef-Producing Machine, the American Way

Inside Climate News

The vast central Asian country has millions of acres of pastureland. Can it produce steaks and burgers that offset emissions—and earn carbon credits for them? Story and photos by Georgina Gustin Akmola Region, Kazakhstan—The highway running north toward the Russian border is long and straight, a black line streaking across a snowy flatness. A clutch of pine trees, a row of utility poles, a small flock of crows taking flight.

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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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To Cope with Extreme Heat, Paris Will Swap Parking Spaces for Trees

Yale E360

Paris aims to replace 60,000 parking spaces across the city with trees by the end of this decade, according to its newly released climate plan.

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The Myth that Musicians Die at 27 Shows How Superstitions Are Made

Scientific American

Famous people who die at 27, such as Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix and Amy Winehouse, get even more famous because of the mythology surrounding that number—a look at how modern folklore emerges

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Crafting a Future Free of Plastics

Ocean Conservancy

We have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to tackle one of the biggest threats facing our ocean: plastic pollution. Next week the United Nations will host the fifth and final scheduled round of negotiations (INC-5) in Busan, South Korea, for an international legally binding instrument (ILBI) to end plastic pollution. Widely known as the “global plastics treaty,” this agreement aims to curb the global plastic pollution crisis, of which the ocean often bears the brunt.

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Vital Atlantic Ocean current is already weakening due to melting ice

New Scientist

A study modelling the impact of melting ice suggests scientists have underestimated the risk that an important ocean current will shut down and cause climate chaos

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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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Oil & Gas Wastewater Release At Bear Lake Properties Injection Well In Warren County Went Unreported For 109 Days; More Contamination Discovered Along Related Wastewater Pipeline Route

PA Environment Daily

A wastewater release discovered by DEP during a routine inspection on October 25 at the Bear Lake Properties LLC Bittinger #4 oil and gas wastewater injection well site in Columbus Township, Warren County went unreported to DEP for at least 109 days, according to a response to DEP's violations sent by the company on November 11. The wastewater release, which DEP estimated traveled approximately 1,770 feet from the Bittinger 4 conventional well, down drainage swales, across an ATV trail and into

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Katharine Hayhoe’s Post-Election Advice: Fight Fear, Embrace Hope and Work Together

Inside Climate News

The Texas-based scientist warns people who care about climate change and the energy transition against despair—and looks to examples from the Bible. By Dan Gearino For people involved with research and advocacy about climate change, the results of last week’s presidential election sting.

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Will Hydrogen Hubs Be a Clean Energy Boom or Boondoggle?

Yale E360

As part of a $7 billion investment in hydrogen, the U.S. Department of Energy is committed to building a network of hydrogen facilities and pipelines centered in southeast Pennsylvania. Critics are questioning the project’s expense and its net savings in carbon emissions.

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Math and Physics Can't Prove All Truths

Scientific American

Physicists have described a system that requires an incomputable number to fully understand, another example of the provably unprovable puzzles of mathematics

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Cougar Crossing | WILD HOPE

PBS Nature

Los Angeles is well known for its celebrities, so when the fearless cougar P-22 gained fame for making its home in the midst of the city, he inspired an effort to build the world’s largest wildlife crossing and helped spark a national campaign to support crossings and corridors everywhere. The post Cougar Crossing | WILD HOPE appeared first on Nature.

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The radical treatments bringing people back from the brink of death

New Scientist

Reperfusion technologies that can reanimate human brains are raising the possibility that death could be a reversible condition, even hours after a cardiac arrest

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EPA, Justice Dept., DEP Announce $5.275 Million In Penalties, Plus $1.4 Million In Abandoned Well Plugging Funding Against Shale Gas Drilling Companies-- XTO Energy, Inc., Hilcorp Energy Company For Federal, State Clean Air Act Violations

PA Environment Daily

On November 21, the US Environmental Protection Agency, US Department of Justice and the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection announced two settlements with oil and gas operators in Pennsylvania involving operations in Butler, Lawrence and Mercer Counties. In separate agreements, XTO Energy Inc. (XTO) [ExxonMobil] and Hilcorp Energy Company (Hilcorp) , agreed to resolve alleged Clean Air Act and Pennsylvania Air Pollution Control Act violations involving their oil and gas producti

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All Eyes on Baku: Expectations for Canada at COP29

Enviromental Defense

With COP29 around the corner, our team at Environmental Defence is hard at work preparing for a busy two weeks of UN climate talks. Like every year, this is a pivotal moment for climate progress. (If you missed our explainer on what COP29 is, check that out here ) COP28 was a game changer Last year at COP28 , for the first time ever, countries around the world collectively agreed on the need to leave oil, gas and coal in the ground.

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In India, Cameras Deployed to Track Wildlife Are Used to Spy on Women

Yale E360

In northern India, drones and camera traps deployed to monitor wildlife are being used by local officials to spy on women without their consent.

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How Humor Can Help You Get through Hard Times

Scientific American

When life feels difficult, humor can be a coping mechanism that relieves stress and offers the breathing room to keep going, scientists say

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