“Dive into the winning images from UPY 2024. This year we attracted a record number of entrants and a record number of pictures – thank you to every photographer who entered. As always, the collection is a great reminder that while underwater photography is a specialist discipline, there is huge diversity within it. Our winning… Continue Reading
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Category Archives: Environmental Law
Giant redwood trees grow as fast in UK as they do in their native range in California
The Conversation: “Giant redwood trees grow as fast in the U.K. as they do in their native range in California, according to a recent study. Interest in planting giant redwoods has grown in the U.K. due to their public appeal and ability to absorb carbon from the atmosphere. Giant redwoods, the world’s largest tree, were… Continue Reading
Leaded aviation gasoline exposure risk and child blood lead levels
Leaded aviation gasoline exposure risk and child blood lead levels, PNAS Nexus, Volume 2, Issue 1, January 2023, pgac 285, https://doi.org/10.1093/pnasnexus/pgac285. Published: 10 January 2023. “Lead-formulated aviation gasoline (avgas) is the primary source of lead emissions in the United States today, consumed by over 170,000 piston-engine aircraft (PEA). The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates… Continue Reading
Annual Threat Assessment of the US Intelligence Community
February 5, 2024 – Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI): “This annual report of worldwide threats to the national security of the United States responds to Section 617 of the FY21 Intelligence Authorization Act (Pub. L. No. 116-260). This report reflects the collective insights of the Intelligence Community (IC), which is committed every… Continue Reading
Report – AI likely to increase energy use and accelerate climate misinformation
The Guardian – Claims that artificial intelligence will help solve the climate crisis are misguided, warns a coalition of environmental groups – “Claims that artificial intelligence will help solve the climate crisis are misguided, with the technology instead likely cause rising energy use and turbocharge the spread of climate disinformation, a coalition of environmental groups has… Continue Reading
The Lifeblood of the AI Boom
The Atlantic – The Lifeblood of the AI Boom – [unpaywalled] “Applications such as ChatGPT and DALL-E have captured the world’s imagination—but AI companies are focused on something else. Artificial intelligence can appear to be many different things—a whole host of programs with seemingly little common ground. Sometimes AI is a conversation partner, an illustrator,… Continue Reading
Pretend Plastic Recycling
Data is Beautiful – Only 1% of all plastics have ever been recycled and put back into use. Most have been dumped (~60%) or incinerated (10%). The remaining 30% are still in use. See also Recycling plastic is practically impossible — and the problem is getting worse Science Advances – Production, use, and fate of… Continue Reading
The AI data scraping challenge: How can we proceed responsibly?
OECD.AI Policy Observatory – Lee Tiedrich, Distinguished Faculty Fellow in Ethical Technology, Duke University Science & Society. March 5, 2024. Society faces an urgent and complex artificial intelligence (AI) data scraping challenge. Left unsolved, it could threaten responsible AI innovation. Data scraping refers to using web crawlers or other means to obtain data from third-party… Continue Reading
Do firms mitigate climate impact on employment? Evidence from US heat shocks
Acharya, Viral V. and Acharya, Viral V. and Bhardwaj, Abhishek and Tomunen, Tuomas, Do firms mitigate climate impact on employment? Evidence from US heat shocks (August 15, 2023). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4660007 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4660007 “How do firms mitigate the impact of rising temperatures on employment? Using establishment-level data, we show that firms operating in multiple… Continue Reading
Researchers Warn Arctic Ocean could be ‘ice-free’ within the decade
Los Angeles Times: “The loss of Arctic sea ice has long been a graphic measure of human-caused climate change, with wrenching images of suffering polar bears illustrating a worsening planetary crisis. Now, new research has found that Arctic Ocean sea ice is shrinking even faster than previously thought — and that the Arctic may start… Continue Reading
Recycling robot is saving millions of bottles from the landfill
Fast Company: “If you throw a plastic water bottle or yogurt cup in a recycling bin, it might not necessarily be recycled.Inside sprawling warehouses that the industry calls “MRFs” or materials recovery facilities, machines and workers often sort through hundreds of tons of waste a day. The process is imperfect, and valuable recyclables can often… Continue Reading
The European Extreme Events Climate Index
“The European Extreme Events Climate Index (E3CI) provides a general overview of weather-induced hazards by combining seven components: Extreme Max and Min Temperature, Drought, Extreme Precipitation, Hail, Fire, Extreme Wind. The European Extreme Events Climate Index (E3CI) is an ensemble of indices aimed at providing information about the areas affected by different types of weather-induced… Continue Reading
