Climate Impact Lab: “As we face the punishing impacts of global climate change it can be easy to wonder, do efforts to reduce emissions by individual countries, states or cities really make a difference? Research by the Climate Impact Lab, which measures the economic and social costs of climate change, can help answer this question.… Continue Reading
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Category Archives: Climate Change
Short-and Long-Term Solutions to Extreme Drought in the Western United States
CRS – Statement of Charles V. Stern, Specialist in Natural Resources Policy, Before Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, U.S. Senate Hearing on “Short-and Long-Term Solutions to Extreme Drought in the Western United States” June 14, 2022: “Chairman Manchin, Ranking Member Barrasso, and Members of the committee, thank you for inviting the Congressional Research Service… Continue Reading
Net Zero Stocktake 2022
“Assessing the status and trends of net zero target setting across countries, sub-national governments and companies. Net zero is the dominant lens through which countries, states and regions, cities and companies approach decarbonisation. With global coverage of net zero nearly universal at the national level now, the big question is whether a sufficient proportion of… Continue Reading
Winners of the 2022 BigPicture Natural World Photography Competition
The Atlantic – “Entrants in this year’s contest were invited to submit images showcasing life on Earth, and illustrating some of the many threats that our planet faces. Images from this gallery were originally published in bioGraphic, an independent magazine about nature and conservation powered by the California Academy of Sciences, and media partner of… Continue Reading
Google Maps now helps you find fresh air
The Verge: “Google Maps on both iOS and Android has a new Air Quality layer that can be useful when planning your next hike or bike ride in good times, or to plan your escape from smog and smoke in bad. The new layer displays an Air Quality Index (AQI) overlay directly onto the map… Continue Reading
How Fashion Giants Recast Plastic as Good for the Planet
The New York Times: “An influential system overseen by retailers and clothing makers ranks petroleum-based synthetics like “vegan leather” as more environmentally sound than natural fibers. It’s soft. It’s vegan. It looks just like leather. It’s also made from fossil fuels. An explosion in the use of inexpensive, petroleum-based materials has transformed the fashion industry,… Continue Reading
Google Earth Engine is taking its closest look yet at how landscapes are changing
Popular Science, June 9, 2022: “Today, Google Earth is launching a project called Dynamic World, a new endeavor that creates maps that come paired with a novel deep learning AI model. It’s able to classify land cover by type (water, urban, forest, crops) at a resolution of 10 meters, or 32 feet. That means each… Continue Reading
The State of the World’s Forests 2022
FAO. 2022. The State of the World’s Forests 2022. Forest pathways for green recovery and building inclusive, resilient and sustainable economies. Rome, FAO. “There will be no healthy economy on an unhealthy planet. Environmental deterioration is contributing to climate change, biodiversity loss and the emergence of new diseases. Forests and trees can play crucial roles… Continue Reading
Secretary Haaland Issues Order to Phase Out Single-Use Plastics, Protect Public Lands and Waters
“On World Ocean Day today, Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland issued Secretary’s Order 3407, which aims to reduce the procurement, sale and distribution of single-use plastic products and packaging with a goal of phasing out single-use plastic products on Department-managed lands by 2032. The Order is part of the implementation of President Biden’s Executive… Continue Reading
New tool from Google shows how the planet is changing in near real time
Fast Company: “A new tool from Google Earth Engine and the nonprofit World Resources Institute pulls from satellite data to build detailed maps in near real time. Called Dynamic World, it zooms in on the planet in 10-by-10-meter squares from satellite images collected every two to five days. The program uses artificial intelligence to classify… Continue Reading
Employment Impacts in a Decarbonized Economy
Employment Impacts in a Decarbonized Economy. Decarb America Research Initiative. Key Takeaways. June 6, 2022 – “The Decarb America Research Initiative analyzes a suite of policy and technology pathways for the United States to reach net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. Our work objectives are twofold: to improve understanding of the tradeoffs between different proposed strategies for achieving net-zero;… Continue Reading
Carbon dioxide now more than 50% higher than pre-industrial levels, June 3, 2022
“Carbon dioxide measured at NOAA’s Mauna Loa Atmospheric Baseline Observatory peaked for 2022 at 421 parts per million in May, pushing the atmosphere further into territory not seen for millions of years, scientists from NOAA and Scripps Institution of Oceanography offsite link at the University of California San Diego announced [June 3, 3033]. NOAA’s measurements of… Continue Reading
