“The UN Secretary-General’s Call to Action on Extreme Heat brings together the diverse expertise and perspectives of ten specialized UN entities (FAO, ILO, OCHA, UNDRR, UNEP, UNESCO, UN-Habitat, UNICEF, WHO, WMO) in a first-of-its-kind joint product, underscoring the multi-sectoral impacts of extreme heat. Earth is becoming hotter and more dangerous for everyone, everywhere. Billions of people around the world are wilting under increasingly severe heatwaves driven largely by a fossil-fuel charged, human-induced climate crisis. Extreme heat is tearing through economies, widening inequalities, undermining the Sustainable Development Goals, and killing people. The Call for Action calls for an urgent and concerted effort to enhance international cooperation to address extreme heat in four critical areas: Caring for the vulnerable – Protecting workers – Boosting resilience of economies and societies using data and science – Limiting temperature rise to 1.5°C by phasing out fossil fuels and scaling up investment in renewable energy.”
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Category Archives: Energy
The world’s most, and least, walkable cities
The Economist [unpaywalled]: “Cars can be a nuisance. Just ask anyone stuck on London’s M25 motorway or Houston’s Katy Freeway. More cars create more polluting traffic jams, and the amount of space needed to drive them, park them and re-fuel them could be used for more pleasant purposes, such as parks and recreational areas. It… Continue Reading
The Fraud of Plastic Recycling
Center for Climate Integrity – “Underpinning the plastic waste crisis is a campaign of fraud and deception that fossil fuel and other petrochemical companies have created and perpetuated for decades. Through new and existing research, “The Fraud of Plastic Recycling” shows how Big Oil and the plastics industry have deceptively promoted recycling as a solution… Continue Reading
The Donald Trump Interview Transcript
Bloomberg – Full text, fact-checked – unpaywalled – “Bloomberg Businessweek interviewed former US President Donald Trump at his golf club, Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, on June 25, two days before the first 2024 presidential debate and about two weeks before a failed assassination attempt. In a discussion focused on business and the global economy,… Continue Reading
Climate Zones
The Pudding – Visualization: How will your city feel in the future – “This project looks at 70 global cities, and tracks their classification from present day to 2070. And with climate change, your city isn’t just getting hotter: it will resemble the distinctive climate of completely different places…A 2018 study, led by climatologist Hylke… Continue Reading
The World’s Power Grids Are Failing as the Planet Warms
Bloomberg [unpaywalled] – Outages from Albania to Texas show how electricity networks aren’t ready for climate change. “…The climate crisis exposes electricity networks to flash floods ripping down transmission towers, droughts drying up hydro reservoirs and demand spikes from cooling during searing heat. “The whole power system was built and designed in one climatic era… Continue Reading
Answers – What’s Project 2025?
Unpacking the Pro-Trump Plan to Overhaul US Government “…The Forces Behind Project 2025 – Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts launched Project 2025 in April 2022, a few months before Trump officially announced his reelection campaign. Since then, the number of groups backing the initiative has grown. As of now, Project 2025’s advisory board and so-called… Continue Reading
Plastics companies blocked mitigation efforts and may have broken US laws
The Guardian – Paper outlines different legal theories that could help governments pursue accountability for harms: “Companies have spent decades obstructing efforts to take on the plastics crisis and may have breached a host of US laws, a new report argues. The research from the Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL) details the widespread burdens… Continue Reading
Energy releases generative AI guidance for employees, contractors
Fedscoop: “Employees and contractors at the Department of Energy now have a new reference guide to help them navigate use of generative AI tools at the agency, including best practices and a note that ChatGPT is available for use by request. That 61-page document was published and distributed on DOE’s internal network on June 14,… Continue Reading
How Specialty Recycling Companies Reduce Plastic Waste
Civil Eats – “With the lack of a national recycling standard and a confusing patchwork of local rules, specialty recyclers are stepping in to take whatever traditional recyclers reject. We ask a lot of food packaging. It needs to look good and keep perishable food safe, intact, and unblemished as it travels from the producer… Continue Reading
How the recycling symbol lost its meaning
Grist: “Today, the recycling icon is omnipresent — found on plastic bottles, cereal boxes, and bins loitering alongside curbs across the country. The chasing arrows, though, are often plastered on products that aren’t recyclable at all, particularly products made of plastic, like dog chew toys and inflatable swim rings. Last year, the Environmental Protection Agency… Continue Reading
How climate change is making us sick
Grist: “These climate-driven impacts are taking a serious toll on human health. Cases of disease linked to mosquitos, ticks, and fleas tripled in the U.S. between 2004 and 2016, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The threat extends beyond commonly recognized vector-borne diseases. Research shows more than half of all the pathogens… Continue Reading
