August, 2021

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Droughts Push More People to Migrate Than Floods

Circle of Blue

World Bank report sheds light on the nuanced connections between “water shocks” and human migration. Indications of migration due to water scarcity and groundwater depletion came as early as 2006 in Mexico’s Tehuacán Valley where a combination of declining rainfall and factory farms caused community wells to go dry. Francisca Rosas Valencia dabs away tears while praying for her son, Florentine, who left home to work in Los Angeles. “It is not easy to be outside of one’s homelan

2006 363
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Sea level in the IPCC 6th assessment report (AR6)

Real Climate

My top 3 impressions up-front: The sea level projections for the year 2100 have been adjusted upwards again. The IPCC has introduced a new high-end risk scenario, stating that a global rise “approaching 2 m by 2100 and 5 m by 2150 under a very high greenhouse gas emissions scenario cannot be ruled out due to deep uncertainty in ice sheet processes.”.

Sea Level 363
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With Census Data Now Available, You Can Help Protect Democracy: Here’s How

Union of Concerned Scientists

2020 US Census data are now available and accessible–and there are an exciting variety of tools for science and democracy advocates to use this data to demand fair and unbiased districting.

2020 363
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UN Climate Panel Contends With Models Showing Implausibly Fast Warming

Yale E360

Next week, the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) will unveil its latest scientific assessment, widely considered the most authoritative review of climate research. But ahead of its release, scientists have had to grapple with the fact that several next-generation models used in the assessment project that the Earth will warm far faster than previous estimates, Science reported.

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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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Carrots and Sticks for Utilities

Legal Planet

Investor-owned utilities supply almost three-quarters of U.S. electricity. With some notable exceptions, they’ve tended to drag their feet on the energy transition. In order to push the transition forward, we need to get them on board. This post will try to diagnose the problem and sketch some possible remedies. The proposed Clean Energy Standard is one effort to deal with this problem.

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Climate Change Is Widespread, Rapid, and Intensifying — And Terrifying

Law and Environment

The IPCC has released its Sixth Assessment Report on the physical science basis of climate change. I would say that it makes sobering reading, except any sane person’s immediate response to AR6 would be to go out and have any number of stiff drinks. Here are a number of the lowlights: It is unequivocal that human influence has warmed the atmosphere, ocean and land.

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We are not reaching 1.5ºC earlier than previously thought

Real Climate

Guest commentary by Malte Meinshausen, Zebedee Nicholls, and Piers Forster. Of all the troubling headlines emerging from the release of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) WG1 report, one warning will surely dominate headlines in the next days and weeks: Earth is likely to reach the crucial 1.5? warming limit in the early 2030s. In 2018, the IPCC Special Report on 1.5C warming stated in its summary for policy makers that the world was likely to cross the 1.5?

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Accurately and Appropriately Accounting for Risk: Why Steven Koonin and George Will Are Unsettling

Union of Concerned Scientists

A Science Network guest blogger reacts to Dr. Steven Koonin's controversial book on climate science, and a perhaps overly credulous review of this book by George Will in the Washington Post.

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A Vast South American Wilderness Is Under Siege From Illegal Mining

Yale E360

The third-place winner of the 2021 Yale Environment 360 Video Contest vividly depicts how, as the Venezuelan state collapses, the nation’s corrupt leaders are controlling — and profiting from — a flood of illegal mining in what was once one of South America’s wildest regions. Read more on E360 ?.

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Top 10 Biggest Environmental Wins In California’s History

Legal Planet

California is generally known as an environmental leader, but the state has also faced tremendous environmental degradation and destruction. I chronicled my “top 10” worst environmental decisions in the state’s history last year. But what about the good things state policy makers have done? Here is my list of the most significant environmental wins in California since the state’s founding.

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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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Leadership Blog Part 15: Connecting with Our Community

NAEP Leadership Blog

Recently I reflected on Tony Hiss’s book In Motion – The Experience of Travel. Hiss talks about the experience of deep travel. The point of travel is more than getting from point A to point B; it is first and foremost an experience, the experience of traveling to planned destinations. And then it is something more – the experience of the unplanned encounters and realizations along the way.

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The Colorado River Basin’s Daunting New Math

Circle of Blue

The basin’s big reservoirs have fallen to uncharted territory. The forecast isn’t any better. Lake Mead sits at a record low. Federal officials are expected to declare a first-ever Tier 1 shortage, which will require water cuts that fall most heavily on Arizona. Photo © J. Carl Ganter/Circle of Blue. By Brett Walton, Circle of Blue – August 13, 2021.

2007 362
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The IPCC Sixth Assessment Report

Real Climate

Climate scientists are inordinately excited by the release of a new IPCC report (truth be told, that’s a bit odd – It’s a bit like bringing your end-of-(seven)-year project home and waiting anxiously to see how well it will be received). So, in an uncharacteristically enthusiastic burst of effort, we have a whole suite of posts on the report for you to read.

Sea Level 363
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Historic Black Community Put at Risk by Truck Bridge

Union of Concerned Scientists

A historic black community fights to improve its air quality.

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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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On South African Shores, Women Carry on a Harvest Once Denied

Yale E360

In apartheid South Africa, the Sokhulu practice of gathering mussels was outlawed. “Ulwandle Lushile: Meeting the Tides,” the second-place winner in the 2021 Yale Environment 360 Video Contest, shows how Sokhulu women persevered and are again harvesting mussels sustainably. Read more on E360 ?.

2021 358
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Environmentalism and the Supreme Court

Legal Planet

Every field has its texts that form part of its intellectual canon, and others that form a kind of anti-canon of rejected ideas. The same is true in environmental law. The issue goes beyond which side wins. From the pro-environmental side of things, some Supreme Court rulings form guideposts to rely on, whereas others represent dangerous pitfalls to avoid.

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The Pandemic Caused a Baby Bust, Not a Boom

Scientific American

Birth rates in many high-income countries declined in the months following the first wave, possibly because of economic uncertainty. -- Read more on ScientificAmerican.com.

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Climate Change Is Intensifying the Water Cycle, New IPCC Report Finds

Circle of Blue

The climate crisis will jeopardize key sources of fresh water and make extreme weather events more severe. But experts say there’s still time to prevent the worst outcomes. A farmer in the Mekong Delta uses plastic, mud, and sticks to hold back the rising sea. According to the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report published Monday, Southeast Asia coastal zones are among the world’s most climate vulnerable regions.

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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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AR6 of the best

Real Climate

Half a dozen takeaways from a first read of the new IPCC AR6 report. As climate scientists we tend to look at the IPCC reports a little differently than the general public might. Here are a few things that mark this report out from previous versions that relate to issues we’ve discussed here before: Extreme events are increasingly connected to climate (duh!

Sea Level 361
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What We Told the White House about Science Communication and Scientific Integrity

Union of Concerned Scientists

Center for Science and Democracy Director Andrew Rosenberg summarizes the testimony he and his colleagues provided to the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy.

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As Disasters Mount, Central Banks Gird Against Threat of Climate Change

Yale E360

From the Bank of England to the People’s Bank of China, monetary authorities of the world’s largest economies are gauging how climate change could rock the financial system. Though long committed to being “market neutral,” some are even starting to push greener investments. Read more on E360 ?.

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What If We Succeed?

Legal Planet

Suppose we bring climate change under control and deal with its fallout. What will have we achieved? We will have prevented great harm. That, of course, is the main goal. Untamed climate change means an dangerous, ugly future for all of us on “Spaceship Earth.” Preventing that future is surely enough of a reason to dedicate ourselves to the effort. I’m asking about something different, however: how will the world be better off than it would have been if climate change had never been a problem?

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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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Nonbinary Scientists Want Funding Agencies to Change How they Collect Gender Data

Scientific American

Too many surveys fail to include options beyond “male,” “female” and “do not wish to disclose” -- Read more on ScientificAmerican.com.

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“We Can’t Have Land Back Without Water Back”

Circle of Blue

Julia Bernal came of age while living in a watershed turned upside down by dams and diversions. Now an activist, she campaigns for Indigenous rights — and the water to sustain them. Pictured at the Santa Elena Canyon in Texas, the flow of the Río Grande shrinks during the summer. Photo © iPhone Photography / Wikimedia Commons. By Laura Gersony, Circle of Blue — August 9, 2021.

2016 360
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A deep dive into the IPCC’s updated carbon budget numbers

Real Climate

Guest post by Joeri Rogelj (Twitter: @joerirogelj). Since temperature targets became international climate goals, we have been trying to understand and quantify the implications for our global emissions. Carbon budgets play an important role in this translation. Carbon budgets tell us how much CO 2 we can emit while keeping warming below specific limits.

2018 358
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Methane Madness: 5 Reasons Why Natural Gas Doesn’t Belong in a Clean Electricity Payment Program

Union of Concerned Scientists

The Senate just released a federal budget resolution that includes a measure that could subsidize the production of natural gas. Here are 5 reasons why we shouldn't do that.

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The Dream of Carbon Air Capture Edges Toward Reality

Yale E360

Next month, an industrial facility in Iceland will join a growing number of projects to remove CO2 from the air and put it underground. But major hurdles, including high costs, remain before this technology can be widely deployed and play a key role in tackling climate change. Read more on E360 ?.

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Hot off the Press: The New IPCC Report

Legal Planet

The IPCC issued the massive first volume of its new report on climate change on Monday. This volume focuses on climate science: how much will the world warm, and what will the impacts be? The bottom line is that the evidence is becoming ever firmer that (a) humans are causing an unprecedented rate of climate change, (b) we are starting to foreclose our ability to achieve less dangerous outcomes, and (c) failure to act will impose tremendous costs for generations.

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Female octopuses throw things at males that are harassing them

New Scientist

An analysis of footage of octopuses off Australia throwing silt and shells suggests that they deliberately target others, and that females do most of throwing, often at males

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Dry Wells in Northern California Bring Home the Costs and Stresses of Drought

Circle of Blue

In this hot, dry summer, household wells are failing and wait lists for replacements stretch up to a year. A dry field north of Maralee and Noal Child’s house in Glenn County, California, used to be an olive orchard. Now it is slated to be planted with almond trees, Maralee said. Photo courtesy of Maralee Childs. By Brett Walton, Circle of Blue – August 11, 2021.

2014 358
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#NotAllModels

Real Climate

The biggest contribution scientists can make to #scicomm related to the newly released IPCC Sixth Assessment report , is to stop talking about the multi-model mean. We’ve discussed the issues in the CMIP6 multi-model ensemble many times over the last couple of years – for instance here and here. There are two slightly contradictory features of this ensemble that feature in the new IPCC report – first is the increase in skill seen in CMIP6 compared to CMIP5 models.

2020 356
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Loved to Death? The Risks of Simplistic Campaigning for Wildlife Conservation

Union of Concerned Scientists

A conservationist writes about how many anti-trophy hunting conservation efforts miss the real needs of the people, environment, and animals most affected.